Clarke's Law
by ILiveInTheTARDIS
Summary: "A bit of truth in myth and legend..." Three years ago Kelly Jones parted ways with a teenager with an explosive personality. Ever since then, London has experienced a large number of alien invasions. Complicating things further for the MI7 agent, her luck has disappeared, as if it is stockpiling... but Kelly doesn't believe in fate. Most of all, Kelly does not believe in magic.
1. Prologue

**Author's Note:** Kelly Jones is back! Taking place a few years after the events of 'Wicked! Sounds Like My Kind of School' and the events of 'St Trinian's (2007)' and 'St Trinian's 2: Legend of the Fritton Gold', Clarke's Law is a Kelly dominated story set in 2009. The story line's been hanging around for some time and I made use of NaNoWriMo 2013 to get it from basic outline to this. (Yes, I did manage the 50 000 words in a month :) ) As with 'Wicked!' updates should be regular so stay tuned!

Now enjoy!

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**Part 1**

**Prologue**

Running through the dark, lights flickering above, long shadows ahead. Skidding to a stop, scrambling to get out of sight, back pressed against a wall. The throbbing of blood in ears as footsteps thud, thud, thud their way closer. Look right, shadows. Look left, more shadows. Look up, a fence. Fingers straining to take the weight, up and over. Ankles scream, rolling sideways to lessen the fall. Shouts of alarm, must keep moving. They're not far behind. Over another fence. Gunshot. Hit the ground, glancing about for the source of the bullet. Flash of light nearby. Change direction and leap one more fence. Brush leaves aside, make for the open road.

Heart sinks, dead end ahead but no way left now. Turn back, a shadow running towards the pursuers stops halfway. The shadow rushes back urgently, something left behind. Hand grasped by another, pulled along, the distance narrowing, closer and closer to the edge. No more road, just air. Hovering over the pit of darkness below then descending, falling. The decent continues. Bubbles rise. Upwards? Downwards? Forcing forward to the surface. Head breaks through-

Kelly's eyes snapped open as she inhaled deeply. She rubbed sleep, not water, from her eyes. She reopened them and stared into the dark, her heart beating erratically. A photograph pinned to a corkboard overhead stared back at her. The subject of the photograph grinned down at her and as much as the sight of such a happy face in the early hours of the morning might bother her, she found herself smiling in return. Sometimes it seemed as though she was really there.

A long sigh breathed into the room.

She directed her attention to the various post-it notes also pinned to the board. 'Sleep!' one read but she ignored that one, eying another that read 'Coffee?' Mmm, she thought, that sounded like a good idea.

A creak on the stairs interrupted her thoughts. She frowned although secretly grateful for the distraction. Someone was up and moving at this ungodly hour. She slipped out from under the sheets and slid her feet into a pair of flat shoes. Heels were her preference usually but they tended to click, click, click on the floor and she didn't want to wake anyone else. She ran her fingers through her hair once to flatten it and trusted the darkness of the pre-dawn hours to conceal its mess. She deadlocked the door on the way out.

The hallway appeared empty. A sliver of moonlight guided her safely to the bottom of the landing. Upstairs or downstairs? She pressed herself into the corner and closed her eyes to listen to the whispers of the building. They directed her to the rooftop. An icy breeze struck her. Her hands buried under her arms, she silently approached a shadowed figure leaning against the railing nearby. A curse carried to her ear. The stench of tobacco soon followed as the figure fumbled with a lighter. Her nose crinkled in disapproval but she progressed no further. The trip out of the warmth of her room had been proven unnecessary. Just the late night smoker, she realised and shook her head. Habits were hard to push aside. This was the ninth time the resident of the apartment three doors down had woken her.

I need to get a grip, she thought, and some coffee wouldn't hurt either.

For someone who liked to have everything planned out, Kelly Jones knew she had been drifting. Sure, the successful theft of The Girl with the Pearl Earring had provided her with a ticket into elaborate underworld networks across the UK but she hadn't had any desire to establish ties to a group or gang. The commitment was among a list of issues. She valued her independence too much to align herself with others. It was refreshing to move freely through the world having finished her education. She was free to roam at will. Nothing tied her down; no deadlines, no responsibilities to anyone but herself and no obligation to do anything she didn't want to do.

Well, that wasn't quite true. While money wasn't a huge issue for her, it was still necessary to ensure a steady income.

That was where MI7 came into the picture. They paid her well for her reconnaissance and it was considerably less risky than thieving. Her job utilised a wide variety of her talents. She certainly wasn't getting rusty. Generally she would assess locations, investigate vulnerabilities and supply this information in return for a healthy payment but she was pleased to find herself placed on various missions as well. Thankfully her superiors made sure these involved using her skills instead of putting her behind a desk or on long term placement undercover.

Of course her carefully selected career path had meant leaving her schoolmates behind and vanishing without a trace. She'd had to virtually disappear. Her ties to the school and her peers would never be severed completely but she had to create distance between them and her. It was a sacrifice she had to make to work for the government while her peers continued to elude, break and stretch the law.

Polly always managed to find her though. The initial annoyance that she couldn't elude the Geek gradually transformed into anticipation. It became a bit of a game really. Every so often Kelly would take an image of her current location and send it off to her then count the minutes before Polly gave the exact GPS coordinates. It was Polly who had forwarded a distress call from Kelly's successor, Annabelle, to her mobile and it had been nice to hear about the trouble her schoolmates had been up to, even though it had made her feel detached from what had been home. Admittedly it hadn't been the best time to take a call, hanging from her feet and disabling a bomb. After the call, Kelly considered the other nomination letter she had left with the Headmistress that had never been opened. She spent most of the night grinning about it how things could have been if it had. The amusement wore off when she began considering other alternative futures and did her best to distract herself with some scouting of a potential target.

Ordinarily, Kelly would have considered two calls within two weeks to be clingy as Annabelle had to learn to deal with leadership her own way. Learning to deal with crises was part of the job as Kelly knew too well. Hearing that the school had been invaded was a different matter. That was not an internal affair but an external one. Polly had complained about having no visuals to analyse the flaws in the defences while Kelly had fumed the entire three hour drive there. She had extensively interrogated Annabelle to develop a mental image of events in her mind and had concluded that the siege would never have got that far under her direction.

She was undecided about the helicopter and the second assault though.

Breaking and entering a secret society in order to recover a stolen heirloom made her realise she had really missed having a motive behind her actions. The mission had been implemented without too many issues however the heirloom had not been inside the safe. It had been almost infuriating. Still it wasn't Annabelle's fault. She'd barely had a year's experience in the world of St Trinian's and next to none in espionage. Nonetheless, she had proved her worth by planning and leading the break in. Kelly had enjoyed accompanying her, yet she was struck by regret. Something told her things would have been very different if Miss Fritton had presented the other recommendation letter.

Not much more had changed in the year since then, save moving into a new apartment. The drawers were full of her belongings, a corkboard fitted onto the ceiling above a king-sized mattress, shoes sat at the foot of the bed and a printer awaited connection to her laptop on a modest desk. The layout was almost identical to how she had had her room back at the school. It was the reason she had picked it. It was sparsely furnished. Growing up in an environment surrounded by thieves and other radicals, she had developed a mindset of minimalism. If she could not fit it into a backpack and walk out with it, never to return, then she refused to buy it, save one exception. Initially she had tried to justify the purchase of the coffee machine with the inability of the nearest café to make decent coffee. After she moved to this apartment, she tried to convince herself it was to avoid falling into the trap of predictable behaviour through purchasing the rather excellent coffee from the corner store every morning. Then it was to have a constant supply regardless of the hours the store was open. Eventually she admitted it was a luxury but, since the period of return had expired, it would be a waste to discard it when she could make use of it.

As much as her lifestyle had changed from averting and restricting chaos to working for MI7 and waking in a peaceful environment where she could eat, sleep and shower without worrying about her fellow peers, two constants had smoothed the transition from one world to another; coffee and the photograph that watched over her while she slept and greeted her every time she woke.

"Good work last night, Agent Jones."

Kelly nodded slightly. Her supervisor was pretty stingy with compliments so she waited for the complaint.

"Honestly, you look a mess."

I feel a mess, she thought. Needed two spoons of sugar to get here; two tablespoons. Late afternoon was usually when she woke up. It suited her work however sleeping until dusk was uncommon for her. Not that she'd call it sleep as she had tossed and turned and felt just as exhausted as she'd been before she'd closed her eyes.

"You won't be catching any shut eye tonight," he went on. "You've got a retrieval; an SD card containing some software. One of our clients had a break in yesterday. We have located the group responsible. We're sending you in to get it back, preferable undamaged."

This will be a challenge, thought Kelly. SD cards are tiny and easily hidden. It could be in a pocket or a computer or anywhere really. USBs were at least a bit larger and easier to spot but an SD card sounded like a challenge. Recovering information in the 21st Century was far more difficult due to the internet. Once information got there, there was little that could be done to eradicate it. Sooner or later it could reappear.

I'm going to enjoy this.

"Agent Caringbah has been assigned as your back-up."

The pristine mission fractured. Kelly longed to roll her eyes. Wonderful. Like that idiot Caringbah will be any good. He can't fight himself out of a paper bag, doesn't know discreet and is far better suited for designated driver duty than a back-up agent. Honestly, I don't know what good he does. He isn't half the mastermind Polly is but at least he could give directions and divert security cameras if he was put behind monitors and a computer. Back-up agents are supposed to be ready to leap into action without hesitation and ensure the mission was completed successfully. A competent agent could have reduced the area she needed to search for the SD card.

Caringbah on the hand is going to be of no help at all.

"Heya Keladry."

She hid an eye-roll of disdain at the nickname. "Agent Caringbah," she nodded curtly in acknowledgement.

"You're looking splendid this evening."

Ugh, stop right there. Don't even try. You will only whittle what patience I have left. Kelly resisted the urge to tug at the collar of her long sleeved shirt. She longed for it to cling to her neck more tightly and keep the evening chill of the back of her neck. Wanting to get this mission over and done with, she collected the surveillance equipment; a small broach and a pair of modest earrings. Pinning the broad to her collar, she glanced at the monitor in the back of the car and nodded when the footage from the broach appeared. Caringbah muttered numbers into a microphone as Kelly adjusted the volume of the earring receivers.

That done Kelly turned and poked a finger into Caringbah's chest, "No matter what it might look like in there, you must not follow me."

He frowned, his eyebrows almost disappearing under his long brown hair. He was probably struggling to process the instructions as they went against the directives of being a back-up agent. Caringbah wasn't stupid but she doubted he would take much convincing. Thankfully he wasn't a glory-seeker like some of the others she had been forced to cooperate with. At least he wasn't about to sprint into the middle of things against her advice and try to play the hero. It was infuriatingly senseless throwing away all reason just to 'steal' victory. There is a distinct difference being knowing how competent you are and having pride in your successes and being an arrogant glory-hog.

With Caringbah, she could appeal to his sense of reason. "I need you to be my eyes while I'm inside," she explained while donning gloves. "Should I need to bolt out of there, I'll need you where you can see what's coming and that's behind those monitors."

He gave a reluctant nod.

"One more thing," she added. "If something does go wrong and you are discovered, you hi-tail it out of here with or without me."

She had no desire to attempt another rescue where the rescuee was caught after running in trying to rescue her.

Scaling the roof didn't take long. The brickwork made climbing a breeze by providing numerous handholds. Her gloved fingers found purchase on the little outcrops of brick. There wasn't even a need for a grappling hook. Freeclimbing it was much faster and, seeing as the building was only a few metres tall, there wasn't much of a risk of falling either. Finding something to latch the rope to for the trip down once she had completed her mission was a bit trickier. It had to be close enough to the edge to ensure the rope almost touched the ground below. Less thorough agents had made the mistake of misjudging the height of buildings they were trying to abseil down and found themselves several meters off the ground when the rope ended. Numerous St Trinian girls had made the same mistake during training for the National Gallery Heist, much to Kelly's disappointment.

She gave the rope a quick tug. Secure but a little too tense. She adjusted the knot and tugged again. Better.

Having prepared her escape route, she slipped inside via a rooftop door. As she navigated through the building's corridors, Caringbah's voice occasionally broke the sound of keystrokes in her ear. "About three office-sized rooms on the second floor," he directed her.

It was as good a place to start as any, but were they occupied? Security cameras weren't anything to worry about on this mission as there weren't any to be found. A blessing and a curse – apart from the blueprints and CCTV outside the building Caringbah didn't have much to work with. It meant Kelly was going in almost blind. She had no way of knowing what might be around the next corner. It did explain why a third member of the party, a techie, hadn't been assigned. There wasn't anything a techie could do here.

The corridor was clear when she reached the first office door. She pulled off her left glove and gently pressed the back of it against the handle. Cold. It hadn't been opened recently. Most probably unoccupied. As a bonus, the door was locked. Undeterred by a simple lock, she slipped two hairpins out of her hair and used them as makeshift lock picks.

"Show off," mumbled Caringbah and she grinned.

MI7 issued standard lock-picking instruments to all field operatives but she had yet to find a lock she couldn't pick without them. It was something she took a lot of pride in. Any amateur could use those tools. It made lock-picking an action, not an art as it rightfully should be. Picking a lock required patience, skill and a gentle touch. Twisting the picks in opposite directions, she inhaled deeply at the sound of the door creaking open.

She closed the door behind her. Now, thought Kelly, where would I keep an SD in this mess? As dull and universal as office buildings were, you couldn't complain too much. They were consistent. Consistency was a good friend to spies and thieves. While she was working as the former, the practice of the later advised her to search the second drawer of the nearest desk. It was locked after all. Locks had this allure, this aura of a subtle challenge. It was almost disappointing how easily it relinquished its contents to her.

"Bingo," she whispered as she pushed aside a pile of papers and located her target. As she picked it out of the collection of stationary, her muscles tensed. A shiver ran down her spine. Her sixth sense warned her of potential discovery. This room was not going to be unoccupied for much longer. Immediately she made for the window but it refused to budge.

"Kelly?" questioned Caringbah, oblivious to the sound of footsteps echoing down the corridor.

She made a gesture in front of the broach-camera and, recognising the signal, he went quiet. Having nowhere else to hide, she pressed her back to the wall behind the door. Her fingers ran over the edges of the SD card in the palm of her hand as the echoes grew louder.

The handle rattled. A key turned in the lock. The door swung open. Kelly didn't dare breathe. Someone halted in the doorway. Their eyes jumped to the desk draw, open and papers dumped onto the desk. Silently Kelly gave the broach a thumbs-down. Blown.

The man cried in alarm as she shoved him aside and darted out into the corridor. Several other voices responded to the cry. Kelly abandoned the rooftop escape, darting down the corridor as the occupants of the rooms gave chase.

"Stairs on the left," directed Caringbah. "Fire escape."

She heard crackling from the earpieces then cut off his urging to hurry up and made a shooing motion with her hands. By the time she reached the street the van, and Caringbah, were gone. She was glad he hadn't waited. Her pursuers were not far behind her.

She ran, following the road, the roaring of motorbikes as they revved into life echoing behind her. She did her best to elude them by climbing over obstacles and entering narrow alleyways. Out in the open she was a target but the tight spaces made it difficult to navigate. She was relieved they hadn't any guns with them, none that she could hear being fired at any rate. A sinking feeling told her they were the more brutal kind of aggressors. Images of batons, clubs and other blunt instruments came to mind. The pessimist inside added sharp stabbing tools to that inventory and that spurred her on.

Her feet protested before her lungs did, a tingling burning sensation that made every step feel like stepping onto hot coals. She panted and gasped for breath, pressing herself into a doorway. Footsteps echoed around her. Engines thrummed in the distance then approached, then faded again. Glancing left and right, she was unable to identify which way she should be heading. Her internal compass was spinning. It was just about possible to hazard a guess as to which way she'd come from. The lack of moon to guide her only frustrated her further.

I am not lost, she thought firmly. I can find my way if I just find a rooftop.

No purchase could be found on either wall around her. Cursing, she forced herself to keep moving and search for other vantage points. She no longer needed one after turning the corner. A landmark orientated her but she was spotted and a cry rang out somewhere in the dark. The engines grew in volume. Soon to be surrounded, Kelly raced to find alternatives to the plan of action that threw itself to the forefront of her mind. If I could climb that wall... No, there's nothing to hold on to. Down that street but there's a headlight coming this way. With a deep sigh, she glanced down at the SD card in her hand. Retrieve undamaged, they'd said. Well, nothing ventured…

Hurriedly raising her hand to her mouth, she ran towards the open space and vaulted over the short wall, greeting the Thames with a splash. I really have to stop doing this, she thought as the air was pushed out of her lungs and out her nose. It's becoming a habit.

The pressure threatened to cause her to inhale the air stored within her cheeks but she didn't dare. Her legs kicked upwards until she broke the surface. Wanting desperately to open her mouth and breathe in deeply, she forced herself to rely on her nose for oxygen. She breathed deeply before going under again, rose for air then ducked down again, creating as much distance between herself and the wall as she could with each breath. She didn't kick too frantically because, as she was well aware, only a lunatic would willingly jump in after her because it was freeeeeezzzziiing. Nobody would jump in after her. There would be no motivation to do so because, since she was completely immersed in water, the SD card would be useless to them.

Or so they thought.

An agonisingly bone-chilling swim later, Kelly Jones hauled herself up and out of the Thames, collapsing onto the pavement. Swearing to never ever do that again, she spluttered, the SD card falling into the palm of her hand. Coughing and spitting, she longed for coffee to banish the taste it had left in her mouth. Her body trembled uncontrollably. She knew she couldn't lie there for long otherwise hypothermia could set in. It was a long walk to the Tower to return the SD card. Stumbling after taking a few steps, she knew she would not make it that far. Her apartment was closer. She'd have to get there. Delivering the device and checking in would have to wait.

Thump, thump, footsteps pound on pavement. Vaguely familiar streets; hadn't she just been here? She dreamt of being chased by motorbikes and flinched as a huge bang assaulted her ears. In the middle of the alleyway she was running down appeared a door. Just the door, not the walls it was attached to, just the door hanging slightly in mid-air shaking slightly as something on the other side banged on it. It dimly resembled the door to her apartment.

The door banged loudly and Kelly jolted awake. The photograph grinned down on her. Rubbing at her eyes, she glanced at the time. It's not even 5 in the morning.

Thump, thump. The noise made her wince. She considered the date and groaned. I was supposed to drop the rent money off before work. How did I forget? She rose, donned a jacket over her singlet top to make herself presentable and began digging through her draws for an envelope with the rent.

Thump, thump.

"Alright, alright!" she yelled. "Keep your hair on! I'm coming!"

You've picked the wrong person to wake before the sun rises, she thought as she found the envelope and approached the door. I'm going to do something terrible to your tea. I hope you don't mind swapping sugar for chilli and mustard or some wasabi-

She opened the door and found herself shoved backwards by a force that did not belong to the short plump landlady. Her back slammed into the kitchen bench.

"Where is it?" demanded a voice in a menacing whisper.

Kelly couldn't have answered if she'd tried. All air had left her lungs and she struggled for breath. Her vision swam. She clawed at the forearm pressed against her throat. Two figures were rummaging through her desk drawers, flinging papers, folders and stationary everywhere. Everything snapped back into focus as a hand made contact with her face. Her brain, unable to cope with the lack of oxygen, handed the controls over to her survival instincts. Racking her fingernails into her assailant's arm caused the arm to slacken and partially free her throat. She gasped for breath but was thrown against the bench again before she could escape their grip. The room swam once more. Her eyes were determined to close.

Her legs refused to support her weight as she was hauled upright. "I said, where is it?"

Barely coherent, Kelly tried to focus on the face in front of her but her eyes were drawn to the objects being hurled across the room. "Got it!" declared another voice.

Her assailant let her stumble to the floor and turned. Cigarette smoke wafted into the room as someone behind them lit up. Glowing cinders on her desk indicated it was not their first. Kelly cringed as the glowing end was stabbed at the pile of papers scattered haphazardly on the floor.

"Cut it out," ordered the one who'd grabbed her. "Take what you want and let's go."

Kelly remained where she had fallen and, as shameful as it was, feigned unconsciousness. Not that she was far off it as she had to dig her fingernails into the palms of her hands to keep herself from blacking out. The ringing in her ears had lessened by the time they had grabbed her laptop, wallet and some jewellery. Sensing they were almost done raiding her apartment, she risked opening her eyes to steal glances at their faces, trying to commit them to memory. She wriggled her toes. The tingling of pins and needles concreted her conclusion that she would not be able to give chase. They were going to get away.

One of the three assailants, the one with the cigarettes, was determined to burn as much as he possibly could. All the papers from her desk drawers and folders and a few books fell victim before someone stopped him from setting the curtains and mattress on fire. "They won't investigate a break-in but they will if ya set the place on fire."

The pyromaniac, disappointed, resumed his search for paper. He dumped a pile of books into the kitchen and set that alight. Kelly knew she'd never get the smell of smoke out of the apartment, nor the mark off the ceiling. To her relief, they had not discovered the backpack hidden under the wooden planks of the bed. Just as well, she thought. Several hundred pounds worth of equipment in there and it was her emergency pack. Everything she needed to walk away and never look back was in there. Once they cleared out, she'd grab it and walk out. She couldn't help but peer mournfully at the coffee machine. I can't take you with me, she thought, but you've been a lifesaver. I'll have to track another of your model down.

She had forgotten that she had removed an item from her pack when she had first moved into the apartment until she saw it fly across the room. The item, silvery-grey in colour, landed in the kitchen with a clunk and a wince from Kelly. Uh-oh. The pyromaniac better not set that on fire…

The trio started lugging their spoils out of the room. The pyromaniac was the last to leave and glanced behind him to check the others were already making their way down the stairs. Oh no you don't, thought Kelly but she only managed to rise onto her haunches when he flicked the lighter open onto the paper pile. With a gleeful smile he raced out the door. Kelly crawled over to the burning mass and shoved it away from the coffee machine and the grey object. Unable to reach the fire blanket, she tore off her jacket and threw it over the flames. The fire, greedily burning, refused to die. Already it was spreading to the other scattered papers and dangerously close to the grey canister of extremely combustible materials.

Instinct told her to get out so she obeyed. She shoved the mattress aside and retrieved the backpack. A thought spurred her into clambering onto the bed and reaching up, pulling things off the corkboard frantically. The photograph clutched in her hand, she glanced back at the kitchen, checking how close the fire was to the can.

A hiss reached her ears.

Out, she thought as she threw herself towards the door, pulling the backpack behind her. Out, out, out, out! She yanked the pack when it got caught in the doorway and tumbled backwards when it came free. She rolled down the stairs and slammed into the wall at the bottom of the stairwell. A mighty boom rang out as the canister caught alight. Glass shattered and the stairway sheltered her from being burnt in the spray of boiling hot coffee.

Kelly panted as her heart raced. Legs shaking, she struggled to her feet and pulled the pack on. She took deep breaths as she made her way down the stairs, leaving her charred and burning apartment and everything inside behind. Cool, calm, collected and emotionless, she repeated to herself over and over in her head. She paused in the foyer and ran her hands through her hair. There was little else she could do to preserve her dignity as she stepped out into the night, bare footed in a tank-top and bike pants.


	2. Blackmailed

**AN: Here's the next two chapters. Enjoy. **

**Chapter 1: Blackmailed**

Kelly was distinctly aware of someone else in the room. Her heart beat furiously as she slipped a hand out from beneath the sheets, reaching for the aluminium drink bottle that sat beside her bed. Then the curtains were pushed aside. Light beamed in like a dozen spotlights pointed directly at her. Sheer exhaustion built up over the last twenty-four hours swamped her and she shied away from the blinding light. Squinting, Kelly tried to make out the figure stood by the window. Tall, male, bald, solid with a short trimmed beard, dressed for business, no company logos on his jacket or sleeved shirt. His face was familiar…

She groaned as recollection flooded through her like a thousand volts. Dreaming again? Reoccurring death-defying chases were one thing, but what was this supposed to be? Her conscious? Her royal pain in the behind? And she thought the position was already taken…

She rubbed at her eyes tiredly. God, it's one of those days, isn't it? First the mission goes bust then my apartment goes up in flames and now this.

"Good morning, Miss Jones."

"I've had better ones," she mumbled more to herself than as a reply.

"Or, rather, good afternoon."

She decided she didn't like this dream very much. Drop me back in the running one, she commanded her mind as she rolled over and buried her head in the pillow. Better yet, the one where I punch this guy in the face. I like that one.

A polite cough interrupted her thoughts. A seed of doubt sprouted. Well there goes the theory of this being a dream, she thought. It had crossed that boundary and was stepping into nightmare territory now. But weren't her dreams a bit more farfetched than this? This is almost tame by comparison. Undecided whether she'd loathe this more if it were a dream or reality, she rolled off the bed and poked the figure squarely in the chest.

"Get out," she commanded.

Of course, that would be too easy given the precedence. He made no attempt to move and looked vaguely amused.

"I want nothing to do with you or your lot." She crossed her arms. "Get out. Now."

The smile he gave doubled the existing temptation to break his nose. "Of course you have made every effort to avoid us and otherworldly visitors. With conviction such as yours, it is baffling that you just 'happened' to be in the area whenever anything extra-terrestrial occurs. Coincidence, at least we assumed so the first few times. Yet the pattern persisted."

She glared at the alien, contemplating whether a fall from the third storey would be fatal for the alien.

"The blood control incident was understandable as some of your peers were doubtlessly affected, as was the Cybermen with the worldwide appearances. Making for Canary Wharf in a beeline once the battle begun on the other hand…" He ticked off his fingers. "One could assume you were trying to become involved. You must forgive us if we are a little confused on where you sit on the matter."

She decided it was a pity she had turned down the room on the fourth storey.

"Initially," he went on, undaunted by her silence, "I suspected you had been wrongly identified. The behaviour didn't match your profile. It was more akin to what I would anticipate your ally, Miss McShane, would do."

Kelly's ears rang.

"This begged the question: Where is Miss McShane?" he asked, oblivious to her inner turmoil.

"I don't know," she replied coldly.

He sighed. "You are aware that this conversation would be more pleasant if you cooperated, yes?"

Her eyes narrowed, suspicions confirmed. All he wants is to rope her back into cleaning up his problems and he has the audacity to invade my life with the intent of wresting her whereabouts from me. "I haven't seen her since you have."

The alien frowned, doubting her honesty. "That was years ago."

"Three years," she stated. "But then, you'd already know that, seeing as you've been following me everywhere."

"That is… unfortunate." There was a hint of regret in his voice before he continued, "You worked most efficiently as a pair."

Oh no, he doesn't. Seeing where he was going, she aimed to cut the thought off before it took root. "Whatever it is, I don't care. It's not my problem. If it's to do with the agreement, you need to negotiate with the current figure of authority, not me. Now get out before I throw you out." She nodded slightly at the balcony window to the right. "I've already moved due to damaged property. I'll do it again."

She took delight in the loss of colour of his face. "You certainly are a formidable human, Miss Jones," he replied.

"I have my moments." Why didn't she like the way his eyes were shining?

"Yet you suffered a rather humiliating burglary yesterday and let them get away. How very… what's the word? Merciful? Yes, merciful, of you to let them go without pursuit."

Oh no, he didn't…

"Without," he continued, "any apparent intention of delivering vengeance on them or reclaiming your pride, dignity-"

Her eyebrow arced sharply. I'll show you dignity, she thought, right when I shove you out the window.

"-or purifying this blemish on your capabilities- Oh, you seem distressed, Miss Jones. Am I touching a nerve?"

"How dare you," she breathed, "try to goad me into following your plans. And don't give me any of that crap about having no idea what I'm talking about. They're the reason you're here. You already knew Ace wasn't around," she continued, angrily. "You just tried to play me and if there's one thing I hate, it's being manipulated into doing something I don't want to do."

She almost struck him as he beamed in delight. "I knew I could rely on your intelligence."

"I won't do it. You do know that, don't you?"

He continued to smile.

She crossed her arms, her fingers tapping against her hip. "I'm not doing it."

"Of course not. Perhaps if you knew what exactly was stored on that device that you…" he paused, seeming to savour the word in his mouth, "lost you might change your mind."

A sinking feeling slowly sapped at her strength. "I don't care," she told him. Don't you dare say that it's involved in something alien, don't you dare…

"The content of that device includes highly sensitive software UNIT has cannibalised from the wreckage of the Sontaran warcraft. Teleportation technology."

"Not my problem."

"UNIT tests have been somewhat successful thus far, but the information is classified beyond Top Secret and accessible to few. An effort is underway to ensure that information is replaced and the project fails and is expected to conclude in a month's time."

"Still not my problem," she repeated.

"However, should this information become more widely accessible, the recovery will become more difficult. We charged the task of recovering the stolen storage device to MI7 who, coincidentally, entrusted you with the task."

Kelly sincerely doubted it was a coincidence and told him just so.

"Since you are already involved," he went on, "it was agreed that enlisting you once more in the retrieval was the most appropriate course of action."

"More like deliberately involving me in the first instance and continuing my involvement," muttered Kelly. "It's a lovely story and I do adore how it paints the efficiency of your organisation, but I'm not interested."

"Payment can be arranged-" he began but she cut him off with a laugh.

"I'm not the kind to change my mind because money is involved. I won't do it. I'm through with you pushing me around and playing your games. "

He bit his lip. "It was hoped that other methods of cohesion would not be necessary."

That would almost be threatening. "I'd like to see you try," she dared, meeting his eyes.

The alien reached into his pocket. Suddenly she had doubts. They want me alive and willing… don't they? Alive, yes, but not necessarily willingly but they wouldn't knock me out and place me in a situation where I had no alternative but to do what they wanted, would they?

He withdrew a vaguely familiar device with a screen. She relaxed slightly, glad to not have had a gun sprung on her. A 3D image was projected into the air by the device. Kelly flinched and let out a small gasp as she recognised the scene that had appeared.

"Perhaps the continued wellbeing of your uncle will be encouragement enough."

It was instinctive for Kelly to identify camera blind spots, eye exits, plan strategies of entering or exiting a building and estimate the chances of success. Sometimes she caught herself mentally casing her location without making a conscious effort to do so. She shook her head and tried to dismiss the information her subconscious was storing. She had no intention of ever being involved in any breaking and entering in this facility. Breaking and exiting maybe but prevention or rather avoidance was preferable.

Reluctantly she admitted that it would be incredibly difficult if she **were **to consider breaking in, certainly not without a good reason, certainly not for the thrill of it. You'd need someone who could get eyes on the inside, someone pretty good at navigating blueprints and concealing the presence of the others. Then you'd need-

No, she thought firmly. Stop it. No more thinking about it.

Current Location: Foyer of Her Majesty's Prison, Bristol.

Exits: 2; main entrance doorway, guarded, and the electronically locked door to the rest of the building.

Time: 11:02am, Tuesday.

Surrounding Area: Tall fence, watch towers, concrete bunker style buildings. Quiet as usual. A few other civilians were dotted around the place which was to be expected as they were probably here for the same reason as she was.

Threats: Oh boy, where to start… The dogs, the guards, the armed guards positioned around the perimeter, the electrified fence, the metal detectors, the x-ray machines that scanned possessions and people going in and out, the hydraulically sealing shutters…

Chances of Escape: Thankfully close to 100% as I'm just visiting.

Conclusion: Stop casing the place. It's only making you more nervous.

She never enjoyed coming here. No thief ever would. It was the one place they avoided like the plague yet many ended up inside. Many came through these doors, fewer exited through the front door before serving their time, even fewer without alarms blaring. The concrete walls and steel doors always made her shiver. Her semi-regular visits had cemented her conviction to never end up in a place like this. They encouraged extra caution and reminded her of the consequences of failure which hung over her like a cloud. Pride was one thing, her freedom was another.

She smiled politely at the guard who escorted her to the interview room. A man of proud stature sat at one of the chairs at a table. His ghostly coloured eyes shone as she entered the room and a smile that mirrored her own grew out of a twitch of his lips.

"Thought you might have decided to move on when you didn't show last week."

"My coffee machine decided to make a bit of a mess," she told him.

"How dare it." He chuckled again when she asked how he was. "The usual. Doing the same old although I did finish knitting a sweater that you'll never see me wear."

She sniffed in amusement at the image that appeared in her head of her uncle knitting.

"But you know what I do miss?" he asked. "Fishing. Sitting around waiting to see what bites. Seeing if they do or don't. Reeling them in, seeing what you've caught. Not a thing like it."

She nodded slowly in agreement despite never having gone fishing a day in her life. Nor had her uncle, which would have surprised the prison guards seeing as it was a regular topic of conversation for them. All their discussions about tides, fish, netting, bating and reeling, and all the hours they spent recounting their catches, you would imagine the pair had spent countless camping trips together, their rods dug into the sand. The guards were unaware that the pair meant bribery when they said baiting, or that the tides referred to the activity of law enforcement, or that the fish were actually successful heists and thefts.

Kelly was very much her father's daughter, but to her uncle's chagrin she had chosen a different path. It had taken some time to convey that message through their code when she had first begun working for MI7. It had taken even longer to explain how she'd managed to be offered the job considering their relation and his imprisonment for money laundering and redistribution of stolen goods. He had been heartbroken that she had "crossed the river". She suspected many others would be too if they knew, her former peers in particular. Yet she lived by the creed, 'Never betray a St Trinian' and was determined to keep that vow despite the vast majority of them rallying on the other side of the law.

"Dearie, you have so many options to choose from," Miss Fritton had told her with the smile of a proud parent after the heist of the Girl With The Pearl Earring. "You can stay your course and outwit the law at every turn, or you can join it and do so much better than half those idiots because you know so much more than they ever could. That is not betrayal!" she exclaimed when Kelly had mentioned her reluctance to take such a path. "Not everyone who masquerades under the banner of anarchy fights for freedom or goes about it in the right way. Somebody has to stop them, lawfully or otherwise. It is not defecting to the enemy, my girl, but a sacrifice to use your skills to defend those who need it. And," her eyes twinkled, "be in a position to protect your own from the inside."

Her uncle didn't quite see it that way. She understood why. It was a bit like joining those who denied him his freedom but he had eventually accepted her decision.

"Or," Miss Fritton had gone on with a conspiratorial grin, "you could damn them both. If I had faith in anyone's ability to walk both paths, it would be in yours."

"I can't stay," Kelly apologised. Her uncle nodded. "Just wanted to be sure you knew I hadn't forgotten about you."

And that you'll still alive, she added to herself.

"You'll know where to find me. I'm not going anywhere," he joked and she almost laughed.

With a fifteen year non-parole sentence he certainly wasn't. He'd be just over halfway through now. He should be safe in here, but if that alien could teleport in and out of my hotel room, he could probably be in and out of a prison like a breeze.

Before this is all over and done, she thought firmly, I have to figure out how to stop them from using him as blackmail the next time they come looking for me.

Location: Warehouse on the outskirts of town.

Exits: Five, six including the skylight window. Two appear to be fire exits and would usually require finding a means to pull down the ladder or climbing up to the fire escape. One appears to open to a large garage area, intended for loading trucks judging by the design and size.

Time: 10:48pm.

Surrounding Area: Electrically alarmed fence. A storage shed of some kind nearby. Hard to tell as it's very dark because the streetlights don't go out this far. Pretty clear for the most part.

Threats: Apart from the fence, not many outside. Inside, there are lights on in about a third of the windows. Unknown how many occupants are inside, but probably no more than ten. No sign of CCTV.

Would they be expecting her? She had no idea. They knew someone had broken into their last hideout. Perhaps they anticipated a retaliation of some kind. If only she'd been more careful the first time, this could have all been avoided. If she'd remembered to pay the landlady, she never would have opened the door and would still have her apartment. If she'd had someone competent with her instead of Caringbah, someone street smart, someone intuitive, someone she could trust… But there wasn't anyone like that in MI7. Sure, on the whole they were competent and the majority of field agents had some street sense at least, but her upbringing made her wary of figures with authority on principle. The distrust was deeply ingrained; after all, they'd usually been the enemy during her time at the boarding school, or at least a hindrance.

She worked alone whenever possible or diverted the agents that had been forced upon her as backup towards tasks that were useful but not essential. Serving as someone else's backup was a hardly better. It meant going along with hurriedly constructed plans or, God forbid, improvisation. One sure way to derail up a well-thought out plan was to have people make things up as they go which was ironic, for that was essentially what she was doing now.

The alien hadn't taken much convincing to agree that it was best that she went in alone. He had relented a little too easily for her liking, but she put that down to that being his preferred option and having predicted she would refuse. Her objective had been altered as time was of the essence. Recovery was optional. She was on damage control. Preventing or at least halting the uploading of the data from this location was her objective and the best way to achieve that was to destroy the SD card. Get in, destroy it, get out.

Kelly had other ideas. She needed that SD card intact and the data undamaged. Destroying it would be a waste of a perfectly good bargaining chip and boy did she want a bargaining chip.

Locating a loose section of the alarmed fence, Kelly shoved a small backpack under then slipped after it. She kept low to the ground and as close to the building as possible, avoiding stopping under lit windows or near doorways. It would not have been too difficult to pick a door's lock but Kelly had erred on the side of caution. Her luck had not been good lately. She wasn't superstitious but she didn't think it was a good idea to disregard luck while on a mission.

The fire escape was a safer alternative, although she began to reconsider when she corrected her estimate of its height off the ground. She tightened the straps of the backpack. One arm after the other, she repeated to herself, as she clung to a drainpipe and pulled herself up inch by inch. Just like all those times sneaking in and out of the dormitory, she reminded herself. The backs of her hands protested as they scraped against the brickwork each time she slipped them between the pipe and the building.

She was panting heavily when she reached the first landing of the fire escape. Must be out of practice, she mused. It was pleasing to have the fire escape door open without any encouragement from Kelly's hairpins.

The building served mostly as a garage with a gantry providing access to a few makeshift rooms above. Most of the windows Kelly had noticed outside had been lit by industrial lights above. A handful of vehicles were parked below, mostly vans and a pair of small trucks. The rooms on the second floor seemed a good place to start her search. As she made to move from the door, she noticed movement below. A small group, three or four men, were unpacking one of the trucks. She hurried to retrieve a pair of micro-binoculars from her pack and trained them on the truck. The crate they were carrying didn't look too large. She guessed it was about the size of a dog crate. One of the men bellowed out a deep baritone cry in alarm as the crate shook. Something was alive in there.

She returned the binoculars to her pack. Must keep focused. Yet she couldn't help but wonder what was inside that crate. Some kind of animal obviously, but she doubted it was a pet. It was likely that it had been illegally imported. She sidled up against the wall and peered through the doorway. Holding her breath, she beat a hasty retreat at the sight of someone seated at a desk an arm's reach away. How to get rid of him… Before she could consider a plan of action, a wail bellowed. The fence alarm.

That's it, thought Kelly. I'm cursed.

She pressed her back against the wall and willed herself to merge with it. The occupant of the room zoomed down the gantry to the ground floor like a bat out of hell. Hearing the man and the crate carriers shouting over the alarm and running off to investigate, Kelly rushed into the room and swept papers aside with her hands, her eyes scanning the surface for her objective. The left side of the desk cleared, she yanked the desk drawer open and tipped its contents onto the table. Speed outweighing the need for stealth, she didn't bat an eyelid as pens, staplers and other stationary struck the table and bounced or rolled onto the floor.

She slammed her fists down on the table in frustration. Where is it? The computer gulped as it caught her attention and screamed in protest as she tore both USBs out of the ports and jabbed at the indent that would release an SD card from the tower. As though concerned for its wellbeing, it relinquished an SD card looking a little worse for wear.

"Bingo," she breathed.

After checking the CD drives were empty, she pulled a ziplock plastic bag from the backpack and, dropped the card and USBs inside. She zipped it up then returned it to the backpack. She glanced down at the first floor as she moved to check the other room. Just a cupboard and bench with a kettle.

Maybe my luck is finally improving, she thought.

Better to be safe than sorry, she decided as she returned to the room with the computer and pulled on the computer's power cable. Its whining ceased, although the fan had not stopped spinning when the computer struck the concrete of the ground floor, having been tossed over the gantry railing.

A high pitched yelp echoed below. Kelly frowned. Skidded to a halt on the gantry, she turned and raced back to where she'd thrown the computer from. Her heart racing, she leaned over the rail and looked down. The computer lay in pieces below but her eyes locked on a lone figure struggling with the crate.

"Hey!" cried a male voice.

The figure below halted. A broad shouldered shadow charged towards the crate, brandishing some kind of weapon in his hand. The figure stopped tugging on the wooden slates of the crate, practically dropping it, and brought their arms up to defend themselves.

A loud crack rang out as the man's head hit the ground. Caught off guard by the flying projectile, the remaining figure ducked down and whipped their head frantically side to side as they tried to identify where the flying paperweight had come from.

Kelly felt the eyes stare up at her from the darkness. They shone with an unnatural light, slightly golden. She knew those eyes. A grin grew on her face and she raised a hand to head height. The figure below flinched. She moved the hand from left to right, followed by right to left in a slow wave. The eyes blinked at her.

"Evening, McKenzie," she called in greeting, without a trace of doubt in her mind.

She beamed as a familiar voice sprouted from the figure's lips. "Kelly?!" The figure moved into the light and beamed up at her. "Boy, am I glad to see you."

"Likewise," she replied with a smile.

Ace laughed. "Even with the setting off of alarms?"

"Not so much there, no," Kelly admitted.

"How'd you-"

Guess? Well gee, similar circumstances haven't ever happened before. Mostly abandoned warehouse, shadowed by a certain pyromaniac, no, never happened before. "Spanner thrown into the works of my carefully planned infiltration, who else would it be?" Now wasn't exactly the best time to be catching up. "Can we talk after we're out of this mess?"

Ace nodded in agreement and bent over the crate. She'd just taken the lid off when another figure caught sight of them. Ace took off like a rocket, something clutched in her arms. Ace's footsteps echoed on the concrete below as Kelly ran for the fire escape, tightening the straps on her backpack as she did. She flung open the door and glided down the stairs. Her thoughts and heart raced.

Of all the nights, in all the buildings of the world, we end up in the same one at the same time. Do I owe several years of luck for this coincidence?

Hearing that cry, her instincts had taken over. She hadn't had time to think, to even process what the sound was or who had caused it. Somehow she'd known or maybe, as her logical side would attempt to rationalise, it was her Head Girl conditioning of responding to panicked female voices that had led her to act. She didn't really care. She was just glad she had.

Ace had a good head start on her but Kelly had no intention of letting her out of her sight. A creature was struggling in Ace's arms. It was green, scaled, and had rows upon rows of teeth as well as two curved claws on each limb. Ace was muttering what sounded like curses under her breath, growing louder in volume and quite probably more colourful the more the creature thrashed about.

Without a word, Kelly raced ahead and lifted a section of the fence up for Ace to scramble under. Kelly didn't look back to check they weren't being followed as she could hear engines revving. It could only be a matter of time before they caught up. Leaving with a trail of pursuers on her tail with someone and an uncooperative squawking creature had not been a contingency Kelly had planned for. Ace seemed to have an objective in mind though.

Our only option is to hide, Kelly realised, but their surroundings were quite bare. Except for...

"In here," Ace called and ran straight for the hiding spot Kelly had just identified.

Kelly halted a few metres away. She can't be serious. It had to be the most obvious hiding place she'd ever seen; a shed. Would they even fit inside?

"Come on!"

"Are you mad? It's a box, a bloody box! What kind of hiding place is a box?"

"Just... Get in!" Ace shoved Kelly through the doorway.

Rolling her eyes and groaning with exasperation at her friend's folly, she stepped to the side to allow Ace room. The doors were pulled shut and the sound of the engines died abruptly. A shiver ran up Kelly's spine when she became aware that her back was pressed against smooth stone. It took a moment for her to identify why it made her uneasy. The shed was made of wood, not stone, so what was she leaning against? She turned. A cry lodged itself into her throat. Her legs slowly gave out but the stone column allowed her to slide to the floor.

A curse slipped from her mouth in Arabic as a cavernous space a gothic writer could only dream of had sprung into existence around them. In the very epicentre of the space, a column glowed like a beacon of light, the light swirling around as if it were inside a giant lava lamp. She tilted her head back and the night sky stared down at her from an invisible ceiling.

She was only half aware of her hands mimicking the gestures the Posh Totties made when gobsmacked. 'Oh my God,' was her first thought which was shortly followed by 'What the fuck?'

This is wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. A cathedral does not, could not, fit into a shed. By all rights, the columns were at least double the shed's height and ought to be poking out of the ceiling. The gantries stretched up and up without sight of the ceiling. The space was about as wide as a hockey field. A collection of beanbags and a pair of armchairs dotted what appeared to be a library – a library in a cathedral inside a shed!

Her analytical brain failed to compute the information her senses were detecting. There was too much, far too much for her to see. She closed her eyes and that helped considerably. She could still hear the echoes and persistent hums of the – dare she call it a room? – but it was easier to process without scanning everything within the impossibility. The humming wasn't mechanical but almost a purr. As for what wafted in the air, she supposed she smelt apples, sour green ones, and just a touch of Earl Grey tea. Madness unless there was an orchard in here too, but she hurriedly pushed the thought out of her mind before she tried to picture it.

There wasn't anything but stone to touch so that left sight. Cautiously she opened an eye slightly. Wooden floorboards. A little more. The base of the column, more wooden floorboards. She turned to face the door but Ace had vanished. Warily, she scanned the room bit by bit.

Some kind of structure seemed to sprout from the floor. It was dotted with all sorts of bric-a-brak. An ancient typewriter, what once might have been a radio, wooden panels, switches, dials… She halted, unaware that she had been approaching it until within arm's reach. A machine of some kind, she gathered. All the various pieces of this and that were connected; all parts of a greater something. The column rising out of the structure was different to the others, transparent like glass instead of stone.

A sharp intake of breath caused her to turn.

"Told you he bites."

Kelly tracked Ace's voice to the library section of the room. The mumbles of a male voice grew. With a jolt, she recognised the man stood beside Ace. She remembered those piercing blue eyes quizzing her about her attire, her socks in particular. It had been such an odd confrontation that she had not forgotten it. She remembered this man approaching Ace at the bar, remembered throwing a firecracker in order to create a distraction so she could escape. She clenched her fists, preparing for trouble.

"I'm sure he'll be a lot happier once he's back home."

"Back to the Jurassic then?"

"Triassic," he corrected, rolling the 'r'.

"Same thing."

He scoffed at Ace and she nudged him back. He bopped her nose gently with a finger and her face glowed as she grinned. Kelly didn't know what to think. This couldn't be the same man Ace tried to escape from. Yet she knew that face and he looked exactly the same. She felt lost. The man she had assumed to be with the enemy was now, horrifyingly, bantering with Ace. Not only were they talking, they interacted as though they were the oldest of friends, and as if there was no one else around.

Kelly bit her lip. Ace has forgotten I'm here.

The man moved towards the central structure and stopped directly opposite Kelly. Head bent down to stare intently at the switches he was flicking, he was so preoccupied that he didn't notice her. Ace approached the structure and examined a screen, similarly distracted. Kelly maintained a steady gaze on her until she looked up, saw Kelly through the transparent column and glanced sideways at the man, a confused expression on her face.

What the hell is this? Kelly mouthed, gesturing the room with her hands.

Ace's mouth opened and shut without a sound which Kelly translated as 'Oh'. She grew more troubled as she glanced at the man again. "We haven't left yet, Professor, have we?" she asked as Kelly's eyes narrowed.

Left yet?

He sighed. "Ace, when I agreed to show you how the TARDIS functions, reluctantly I might remind you, I was hoping you would at least remember what I taught you."

Ace's eyes quickly scanned the various switches and the screen in front of her. She cringed slightly when Kelly crossed her arms and began tapping her fingers. "I was just checking," she returned insistently, betraying none of her anxiety.

What is going on? Kelly mouthed.

Ace looked incredibly sheepish. It was anything but reassuring because if Kelly knew that look, it was a Well-I-have-no-idea-what-to-do look. Ace mouthed, 'Sorry'.

You tell me what the hell's going on right now, Kelly mouthed back.

Ace continued to resemble a startled deer in the headlights. With a growing sense of unease, Kelly decided to leave. As reluctant as she was to have Ace disappear again so soon after finding her again, she couldn't shake the feeling that she was trespassing somewhere she really, _**really**_ didn't want to be. This place is too… weird. It defied what she knew to be true and offered no explanation. In all honesty, the wrongness frightened her. She heard Ace's shoes behind her but didn't look back, not even when Ace whispered her name and urged her to stop.

"No, no, Kelly. Stop, no, don't! Don't open the door. No, no-"

Kelly pulled on the door and harsh sunlight blared into her eyes. The wrongness struck her like a blow. Dawn ought to be hours away.

After a sigh, Ace called out, "Professor," in a loud voice.

Distantly, Kelly heard footsteps approach her and an exclamation of surprise. She had thought the inside of the shed had been stimulus overload, but this was a whole different level.

She heard a loud sigh. "Professor, meet Kelly. Kelly, meet the Professor," Ace began, before noticing Kelly's gaze out the door, and then added almost as an afterthought, "and, I suppose, the Jurassic."

"Triassic," the man corrected in a stern tone.

"Same thing."


	3. 2,020,000 BCE

**Chapter 2: 2,020,000 BCE**

"She doesn't look so good…" Ace muttered.

She cringed as the Doctor shot her a dark look. "It's hardly surprising. Unwittingly travelling two millions years through time gives quite a shock." He glared at her. "You should have said you were followed."

Ace floundered. "It happened so fast-"

"You should have said," he repeated.

The comment sank heavily into the air as they both regarded Kelly; Ace with guilt, the Doctor with a wary but calculating eye. Oblivious to their stares, Kelly sat crossed-legged peering out into a valley of ancient trees and pallet of greens. The landscape was starkly different to the one she thought she'd find on the other side of those doors; the warehouse was gone, the fences were gone, replaced by this… this mass jungle of trees, intertwining limbs and shrubbery that coated mountain after mountain within sight. The whole world she knew, gone. Not a single trace of civilisation to be found anywhere. Certainly no phone signal; Kelly had checked. Returning the useless hunk of plastic circuitry to her backpack, she withdrew the binoculars instead. She didn't look for anything in particular as she scanned the valley through them.

Strange cries from all around frequently brought her back to her senses and she studied the areas she thought the sounds had originated from. Those calls were unfamiliar and, like the landscape, hostile. Her mind conquered up images of images recreated from fossils and bones, of large carnivores that might call this place home however there was nothing to see bar the sea of trees. The foliage was so thick it was impossible to see more than a few metres from the edges. Whatever lurked within remained concealed from sight and the very thought made Kelly extremely nervous.

Something brushed past her leg and she whipped her head to see what monstrosity it was. She was relieved it was just the creature she had helped Ace rescue. It scurried around at her feet, pecking at her boots and shoelaces. Deciding it was not much of a threat, she relaxed slightly. When she had first seen it, she had assumed it had come from somewhere else and in a way it had. She had thought it was an alien but it wasn't from a different planet. It was native to a time and place long since gone. How it had ended up in a warehouse in the present, Kelly had no idea but she now understood how it had felt; petrified and a long, long way from home. She might as well be on another planet. The vibes the forest emitted made it clear that she was far from welcome.

She didn't turn her head when she heard dry earth crunch under boots. A sigh, scuffling of feet, small rocks scattered and rolled away. She tried not to acknowledge the weight that gently leaned against her shoulder, comforting as it was. Bringing the binoculars back up to her eyes, she focused her attention on the skyline and the vivid colours the descending sun cast on the sky's canvas, unwilling to reveal her face and whatever expression might be plastered to it.

"Wicked view, eh?"

She met the comment with stony silence.

"Yeah, looks like a hell of a lot of trees to me too. That's the problem with prehistoric forests; they're too green."

Ace glanced down at the rescued creature, reached into the pocket of her badge-covered jacket and offered it a piece of a fairly squashed sandwich. The creature tilted its head as if evaluating whether it was safe before it took the mouthful with its beck-like mouth. It smacked its beck against the ground several times before deciding the bread and filling was 'dead' enough to swallow. While it was busy eating, Ace stroked its back with a finger and ruffled a few small feathers near its forelegs.

She's rather trusting, thought Kelly. It's as if she's forgotten about the scratches on her arms that those claws gave her.

Kelly saw a look of puzzlement cross her friend's face before Ace separated the two slices of bread and frowned at the filling.

"Finding your descendants tasty?" Ace smirked.

It tilted its head at her, registering she had spoken but was more interested in the sandwich. Hesitantly, she pulled off another piece and held it on the palm of her hand then offered it to the creature. Kelly was almost certain it would peck her or rake its claws down her hand. It appeared initially reluctant to approach but, after a reassuring sniff that it was food, gently took it from her. The sandwich soon disappeared into its stomach. Not a mark was made on Ace's palm. As if jealous of the small creature, something grumbled from the hidden depths of the forest around her.

Ever the joker, Ace chimed in, "Vegetarian, you think?"

I doubt it, thought Kelly. The growl was heard again, this time louder and hungrier sounding.

"That sounded big," commented Ace, declaring the obvious. "Like, T-Rex big. I don't know what a T-Rex sounds like, do you?" she asked, glancing at Kelly.

Kelly knew that Ace was making an effort to break the ice but the casual brushing aside was not helping. Catching the silence as a blatant hint that all was not well, Ace went quiet and shuffled awkwardly. After a prompt from the man behind them, Ace took a deep breath and adopted a more serious attitude.

"Okay, I know you're not going to admit it, but you're way out of your comfort zone right now. I don't blame you. I've been there. It's not easy looking up to see a different sky."

She did not seem bothered by Kelly's continued silence. There was ample time to comment between her sentences but Kelly did not feel up to talking. What was there to say in the face of… this?

"It's harder to..." Ace paused to find a word. "...adjust when it happens without warning. Happened to me once. I ended up on an icy spaceport out the back of nowhere. In comparison, here's not bad. Apart from the bugs and the big meat-eaters," she corrected, swatting at an insect that had crawled onto her leg. "But at least you're not going to freeze to death or get brainwashed into a mindless zombie. I got there by accident but I had always wanted to get as far away from home as possible, a million, billion light years away. Turns out there is such thing as too far."

Kelly nodded slightly. They had needed to escape their pursuers but sharing the same forest as a Tyrannosaurus Rex was definitely a bit too far.

"Someone-," she stopped and corrected herself, "-something sent me there and at first, it was the best thing that had ever happened to me. I thought I was free, that I could do anything and go anywhere." Ace's tone became more mellow. "Then I realised I was wrong. I was twice as stuck as I'd been before."

Having never heard this story before, Kelly listened intently. It wasn't one of her happy tales. There was this glassy look in her eyes... Kelly looked away when she felt Ace meet her gaze.

"But it's alright, Kit. You're not stuck here. You're not going to be left behind. I won't leave you behind, I promise."

Promise, mused Kelly, you never make promises. You said you can't keep them.

"If you want," Ace continued, "we can get you back home right now." She gestured vaguely at blue box behind them. "We step inside, we shut the door, and a few seconds later it's hello 21st Century Earth."

That was indeed what Kelly wanted but she had her doubts. The proclamation made it sound too easy. Who was to say that she wouldn't end up somewhere completely different if she got inside that box again? "Right now?" Kelly asked, looking at Ace's face and searching for any trace of a lie.

"Right now," Ace insisted. "Guaranteed return express ticket from anywhere, anywhen."

Life has no guarantees, thought Kelly. But her friend believed she was telling the truth. The complete truth too for Ace had always been a terrible liar. Had she any thoughts of deception, they would have been scribed across her forehead, scribbled on her cheeks or traced over her nose. There hadn't been a twitch, not a letter of deceit. She blinked, noticing there was something off about Ace's face. Not an indication of a lie but something else. Having stared up at a photograph of her friend's face night after night, she knew what it was supposed to look like. She's aged, realised Kelly. Her eyes were still fiery but her cheeks weren't as full or rounded. Her hair had almost regrown to the length it had been when they had first met.

Kelly noticed Ace glance back at the strangely dressed man. He gave a slight nod of approval but kept his distance. The senior of the two, he was certainly the one in charge and Ace deferred to his judgement. Funny, she thought. Ace never gives a second's thought of what other people thought much less seek their approval for anything.

She lowered her voice. "He's the one you travel with, isn't he?" She bit her tongue before she could add 'The one you left for?' It would sound petty. The decision was made years ago. It had been Ace's choice. Nothing good could come of bringing it up now.

Ace was quick to nod. "Part time parental, part time accomplice, part time royal pain in the-"

The man coughed to remind them he could hear every word. Kelly heard the earth crunch softly as he approached. "What she means to say," he commented in a light upbeat tone, "was that she apologises for your unintentional temporal displacement."

Ace rolled her eyes and waved a hand, indicating that was exactly what she had meant.

A parental, thought Kelly. She rolled her shoulders and the tension there eased temporarily before settling again. Ace had said she viewed him as family. Funny kind of family in Kelly's opinion. She wasn't sure if she liked the company her friend kept. His was the face of an enemy. His eyes were disarming but calculating. There was certainly intelligence behind those blue eyes. A shiver ran down her spine as those eyes watched her unfalteringly. They were scrupulous in how they regarded her as though she were a puzzle he was examining and he was taking her apart piece by piece to determine how she worked. She hurried to don her emotionless mask and barricade her thoughts and emotions behind it. They had already been exposed to him too long for her liking. That gaze was something to be wary of. It was definitely sinister.

"Were she to introduce us properly..." the man prompted.

"He's the Professor," Ace began but a tired look from the man caused her to add, "but he prefers the Doctor."

She really does nickname everyone, thought Kelly. Sometimes the names she picked seemed odd but Kelly could see where this name had come from. Ace was right. Professors studied, doctors served. He did not resemble a medical practitioner in any way.

As quickly as the steely look in his eyes had appeared, it was dissolved and replaced with warmth. "You must be a friend of Ace's, Miss...?"

She hesitated, unsure how to address him. Usually neutrality or an attempt to charm would have been Kelly's strategy followed up with whatever she deemed necessary. She had not forgotten how Ace had spoken highly of him. He had been the reason she had up and left after all. Ace had described it as a kind of obligation, a voluntary yet necessary devotion to this man who she had said was the most important thing to her. This alien man, Kelly recalled with a jolt and the distance between them abruptly was not distant enough. Regardless of his planet of origin, anyone with that kind of influence over the unpredictable Ace deserved a healthy amount of reverence. It also would not do to make a nemesis of the designed driver of her only ticket home.

But she could not trust him. Their previous encounters continued to replay in her mind every time she looked at him. He was alien, just like the one who kept invading her life, just like the ones who continually invaded her country, her planet. Worse, he had stolen Ace from her and it was impossible to even look at him without thinking about it. There was no point in being overly pleasant or sugar coating anything. She abhorred him.

"Jones, Kelly Jones," she replied evenly.

Ace glanced at her. Her eyes flicked nervously between them. She remembers that tone, thought Kelly with an inner smirk.

"We went to school together," Kelly continued. She detected another cause of her friend's anxiety. She worries about what I might tell him, thought Kelly and concluded that Ace had told him nothing about her. That stang as much as a paper cut but Kelly focused on the positives. He knows nothing about me. Good. I shall keep it that way. That gaze is after information and so I must hoard it.

It also meant that he did not know about St Trinian's but that was to be expected. As an alien, he couldn't know anything about the kind of education she and Ace had had and Ace seemed to want to keep it that way. Kelly approved of that but wondered why she had kept it a secret. Could it be that she didn't completely trust her travelling partner either?

"You seem to comprehend recent events more clearly than I expected," the Doctor commented in an upbeat tone.

Good, thought Kelly icily. I thrive off surpassing expectations. The comment was somewhat barbed though. It inquired as to how much she knew. Kelly refused to divulge that information. "I have a few ideas," she replied. She nodded at the police box. "If I had to guess, I'd say that box is bigger inside because it isn't actually 'inside' the outside. It's somewhere else, but walking in and out those doors lets you come and go."

Ace blinked in surprised.

Just like your pockets, thought Kelly. Don't think I've forgotten how you tried to brush of the explanation of how they work. It was one of the few times you actually gave me any answers! "I'd even guess it was a different dimension," she added. That was an educated guess. She didn't understand how it worked but the look of surprise on the Doctor's face was exactly the kind of response she wanted. Now he would think she knew a lot more than she really did.

The Doctor looked bemused. "So Ace told you about time travel then?"

Pfft, well, 'told' wouldn't be how I'd describe it, she thought with a smirk. "I had a theory. She only confirmed it." She disregarded the fact that it had been among the dregs of her ideas.

The Doctor tilted his head and Kelly briefly felt like an animal on exhibit in a zoo. "She doesn't usually talk about what we do to others."

He might as well have said 'outsiders'.

"Again, we're sorry about the accidental kidnap and transportation across twenty-million years," the Doctor continued. "I suppose we better be getting you back to the present. Twenty-first Century London judging by your accent, circa 2008 I should think."

His attempt to one-up her did not go unnoticed. It gave Kelly a surge of satisfaction that he had felt the need to try. His estimate was a little off. Close, but not quite. "2009 actually," Kelly told him. She made eye-contact with Ace whose eyes were threatening to pop out of her head, either out of worry about the tension between her partner and her friend or the date. Probably the later. It's been three years for me, thought Kelly, but how many has it been for you?

Ace's expression morphed from one of confusion to a proud smile then paused on a particular look that caused alarm bells to start sounding in Kelly's head. Ace was looking thoughtful. This could either turn out interesting or disastrously.

"Professor," Ace began, drawing the last syllable out. It reminded Kelly of the twins and how they would use that tone to try and coheres someone into relinquishing something they were after. "Could we take the scenic route back?"

Kelly frowned. Scenic route? Why did those words make her feel nervous?

She failed to interpret their exchanged look. She watched the pair's eyes meet; golden brown staring into blue and blue staring back. The slightest hints of emotions zoomed across their faces faster than she could identify them. It was too fast and too unfamiliar, but not for them. A few seconds was all they needed to convey their thoughts through their facial expressions and only a few seconds to receive a reply. There had been no hesitation or wait as their gazes had locked seemingly at the same millisecond.

"It could be arranged..." replied the Doctor slowly, continuing to regard Ace with what Kelly assumed to be a look of bewilderment.

Ace beamed like a can of Nitro-9 had detonated and turned to face her. "How about it, Kit? A little side trip before going back?"

Kelly scowled at the use of her nickname in front of the Doctor then expressed her concern about whether it was really wise to take a hike in the Jurassic jungle.

"Triassic," the Doctor corrected.

Kelly shrugged non-committedly. "Same thing."

"You know, I was thinking of something a bit more exciting," Ace began.

"Not Disneyland," warned the Doctor, sounding extremely tired. "Once was enough."

Kelly raised an eyebrow.

Ace looked crestfallen. "But-"

"The Haunted Mansion?" Kelly interrupted with a knowing grin.

The Doctor nodded grimly and his eyes glazed over as he recalled the incident. "We shall not be visiting there again. Nine stitches, four concussions and a broken battleaxe prop."

Ace mumbled something about ghosts, monsters and clowns under her breath.

"Perhaps Kelly has an idea," the Doctor suggested. A quick stop anytime, anywhere, given reason."

The suggestion caught her off guard. Kelly knew she should insist on going straight back home. I never meant for this to happen and the quicker things return to the way they were, the better. And yet… She knew that was what the Doctor wanted. Petty as it was, to refuse was to let him win. It was a dare but was accepting it worth the risk?

She eyed the lure, entranced and suspicious. The opportunity to step foot onto another planet, the chance to live a day in history; Polly would kill for that. Where to pick...? Not that she was seriously considering it, but if she were, then where? Future or past? Another planet? No, she decided. Earth would be the only choice.

To take the dare… The temptation was certainly there. I could see what becomes of the agreement, thought Kelly, see if someone finds the loophole and how it works. No, not just the agreement, I could see what St Trinian's becomes a hundred, two hundred, a thousand years from now... but I could never share what I learned. I would know what happens and be unable to help or hinder. Perhaps the past then? Watch the pyramids being built, explore the lost cities, discover the truth behind the assassination of JFK... which, again, she would never be able to retell. It was a bit discouraging to realise there was very little to be gained from such a trip. She could never share her experiences with anyone else.

Ace looked hopeful and Kelly realised it wasn't just the dare itself that was coaxing her into accepting. To refuse was to turn down the opportunity Ace had persuaded the Doctor to give. Whatever the look between Ace and the Doctor had meant, Kelly sensed it had been a big ask. She would not have asked if she didn't want me around. It would be rude to turn it down. It would also disappoint her and then there was the clincher; agreeing would delay Ace's disappearance from her life. She was near impossible to track down. The chances of bumping into her again after this were miniscule. What if this was it? What if this is the last time I ever see her? I would always wonder what might have happened if I'd said yes…

"I may have an idea," she began before reason could talk her out of it.

Ace beamed.


	4. First Steps

**Part 2**

**Chapter 3: First Steps**

Kelly Jones stepped out of the time machine and took a deep breath. Well, here I am, she thought with an idle smile. I'm here despite all reason telling me I'm being a complete idiot. More than an idiot, a lunatic and yet I don't care. I should be stepping out into the 21st Century onto a suburban street but here I am instead; willingly travelling in time, even selecting the destination. Having elected to do so meant she was ready for it this time around, ready to be shocked and dumbfounded by the sight before her of...

Hills. Loads of hills and sheep. Not quite what she was expecting. A little bit lacking in the spectacular department. No, alright, hills, still pretty monumental, first steps, first sights. In the distance there is a... building? Some kind of tower, is it spinning? She pulled out her binoculars from her backpack. Windmill. Was it too soon for there to be windmills? She considered that before shaking her head. It's not producing electricity, just spinning the grindstone to crush the grain. It's how they make bread.

The air smelt different. Very much a 'country' kind of natural scent to it. Air untainted by coal and the mass expulsion of carbon dioxide and pollutants. It was invigorating. The hills she could see weren't as boring as she had initially perceived them to be. Aided by the binoculars, she noticed some were fields of grain while sheep nibbled at shoots of grass in others. She guessed the grain was wheat, hence the windmill. Still, a cynical thought chided that this could be any countryside anywhere. It posed a good question; clearly the box had moved again but had they actually travelled in time?

She wasn't expecting a sign that gave the date but any distinguishing landmark would do. She turned to the left and adjusted the focus. Oh. I think that counts, she thought, having caught sight of a large structure in the horizon.

She felt Ace press up against her back as the girl tried to squeeze through the doorway. "Come on, lemme see. Where are-" Her chattering abated immediately as she caught sight of the structure. "Yes!" Ace cried. "Yes, yes, YES!"

For someone with access to any time anywhere in the Universe, or so she claimed, she seemed absolutely ecstatic to catch a glimpse of a stone castle in its prime. It was incredibly dignified and impressive after all.

"What are you waiting for?" Ace grinned. "Race you there!" And like a rocket she took off down the hill, unhindered by the wall of wheat, burrowing her way through it until she was out of sight. Kelly's muscles tensed as she prepared to run after her.

"Wait!" called the third member of their party.

Kelly almost groaned. He's an authoritarian, wonderful. Couldn't he just stay in the box and let them explore on their own? His voice bellowed across the field and the wheat twitched from side to side. Like a meerkat, Ace's head popped out of the dusty brown sea.

"And how are you going to blend into our surroundings dressed like that?" he asked sternly.

"Aww, but Professor..." whined Ace.

The Doctor tutted. "You're making a poor example of yourself in front of your friend." He turned to Kelly and scowled at the binoculars she held. "Anything that doesn't belong here, like those, stays in the TARDIS," he instructed.

Kelly frowned, not liking his tone or being told what to do, but returned the binoculars to her bag. She couldn't help but grin as she heard half-hearted grumbles and curses as Ace trudged back up the hill.

Twenty minutes later in the wardrobe, Ace was not happy.

"Hate dressing up," she stated for the fifth time.

Kelly was bemused. "And here I was thinking that was one of the pros of time travel," she smiled. "Getting to wear all the cool outfits before they go out of fashion."

"No," Ace snarled and Kelly was a little taken back by her animosity. "You end up stuck in poofy dresses, stockings, skirts so wide you can't even walk through a doorway and almost suffocate in corsets."

Kelly struggled to maintain a straight face throughout Ace's rebuttal but her composure broke at the last mention. She laughed so loudly Ace jumped with fright and spun around. She was finding it hard to breathe having imagined a mortified Ace, ready to commit murder, in an Elizabethan dress and corset.

Ace scowled. "I wasn't being funny."

"No, no you were," Kelly managed as she regained her breath. "God, a description like that can only mean you really did-"

"To my horror and shame," Ace replied.

Kelly composed herself and deliberately raised an eyebrow. "What were you doing in a corset?"

Ace reddened. "You will never ever see pictures."

Kelly didn't need pictures. She could already envision it but Ace's reaction only made Kelly grin more. "I wasn't asking for pictures but if pictures exist I must see them."

Another round of laughter was almost set off by Ace's steely glare. She lazily blocked Ace's hands from swiping at her.

"Alright, alright, but in comparison, these can't be so bad. We're not exactly dressing like royals, more like stable hands."

Ace itched at the collar of her tunic. "Still don't like it. I know, 'blending in' and all that stuff, but it just feels... wrong. And!" Ace scowled and puffed out her chest in annoyance, "there's no pockets." She patted down the sides of her legs in search of the non-existent pockets. "None. Not one. Where am I supposed to put my Nitro, down my trousers?"

"Breeches, Ace," Kelly corrected, smiling.

Ace didn't miss a step. "Down my breeches, then?"

"I'd suggest the tunic instead but I doubt that would be any more comfortable than wearing a corset." Had Kelly not donned her stoic mask, Ace might have taken another swing at her. Kelly wasn't an expert but she doubted gunpowder had been brought to this part of the world by this time period. "You surely can't mean to bring some with you. I thought we were leaving everything here."

"It's useful," Ace defended, "and has gotten us out of more than a hundred sticky situations."

Kelly suspected many of those 'sticky situations' had been caused by Nitro or other anachronisms. "If you were to set off an explosion, the people would think it was the work of the gods."

"And that's a bad thing?" Ace returned. "Kit, in my experience-"

"Which obviously trumps common sense," Kelly interjected in a mutter.

"-having people mistake you for being agents of the gods usually helps."

Kelly sincerely doubted that. "How often exactly?"

"Frequently."

"Out of a hundred cases...?" she prompted.

"A good percentage of them," Ace answered evasively.

"As in more than it doesn't?"

Ace's hesitation to answer spoke volumes.

"I see... And the other times when it doesn't 'usually help' you end up tied up and in danger of being burnt at the stake?"

Ace scoffed. "I'm still alive, aren't I? Stop being such a... a..." she searched for a word. "Doubter! I've done this a thousand times. I'm more experienced and the Doctor says you should do what I say."

She's pulling rank on me? As for whatever the Doctor might say, Kelly couldn't give a crap but even so, she doubted he would leave Ace in charge. "He didn't."

"He did," Ace declared.

"Actually," chimed in the Doctor as he entered the wardrobe, "I did. Ace has, as she put it," he paused momentarily to attempt to mimic Ace's voice, "'done this a thousand times' and should be capable of keeping you out of too much trouble."

This is the same girl who bolted down a hill in 20th Century clothing in her hurry to visit the medieval castle, right? The same girl, Kelly continued in her mind, who three years ago followed me out into the middle of the night to a dockside warehouse. The same girl who'd bring cans of destruction with her into the Middle Ages if given the opportunity. The same girl who thought she could steal the last choc-chip cookie from the kitchen in a boarding school and get away with it.

"Seeing as this is very much routine for her, I thought it would be a good opportunity for her to reflect on what she has learnt," the Doctor continued, "and the easiest way to do that would be-"

"To teach me," Kelly finished, understanding the message conveyed between the lines. "Not that I intend to become accustomed to this," she added, worried Ace might take more from her words than she meant.

Ace refused to be disappointed. "So, basically I'm boss, Kit."

We are doomed, thought Kelly.

She glared at the use of her nickname. It wasn't so much that she didn't like it. She had grown used to Ace calling her that and didn't mind hearing it again. She just didn't appreciate it being used in public or, in particular, in the presence of someone she didn't like. Certainly, she was relying on the Doctor to keep to his word and get her back to her own time and place but that didn't mean that she trusted him. She didn't, not one bit.

Ace did. At least, she put up a convincing show of it. Kelly trusted Ace's judgement for the most part in that she was convinced that Ace believed the Doctor would keep his promise. As for the man himself, while Kelly told herself it had nothing to do with Ace choosing to travel with this man and her running off at his beck and call, it had everything to do with Kelly's unease.

The man had stolen her best friend from her life for three years; plenty of time to build up a hearty resentment.

"Well then, Boss," she teased, maintaining her neutral mask. "Lead the way."

"Why did you pick here?" asked Ace as the trio trudged along the dirt path towards the castle.

"Does it matter?" Kelly asked. "Judging from how you were practically falling over your own feet earlier, I would have thought you liked my choice."

"No, I mean, yeah, I do but why here. Of all the places to pick, you know?"

"Why 12th Century Britain?" Kelly asked and Ace nodded. "The knights of course."

"The knights?" Ace echoed, frowning.

Kelly rolled her eyes. "You did read about the knights of the round table, King Arthur and Excalibur, the sword in the stone, the Holy Grail...?"

"Well yeah, course I did," Ace butted in before Kelly could go on any further. "But you do know that most of that isn't, well, true, don't you?"

Kelly widened her eyes in alarm. "It's just a myth? No! No, it can't be."

Ace had begun babbling to console her before she noticed Kelly's grin. "Oh, ha-ha. Very funny." She remained sceptical of Kelly's justification. "You really picked here because of the knights?"

"You don't have your eye out for a knight in shining armour?"

Ace's expression hardened and she turned away.

Uh-oh, thought Kelly. What have I stepped in? She hastened to amend her error. She jabbed lightly at Ace's arm, "Honestly, it's all about the stories. They don't have to be true to be enjoyed. The likelihood of there actually being a group of knights who sit at a round table and serve the people and their king who never abuses his power who sends them off on quests to fight witches and save damsels in distress is minuscule. As if there really was an all-knowing wizard or an enchanted sword that only the once and future king of England could draw from the stone... Why are you laughing?"

"Nothing."

Kelly's eyes narrowed, detecting a lie so apparent it might have well have been holding up a giant sign reading 'Lie'. It certainly wasn't 'nothing' for Ace to go from moody and irritable to this in ten seconds.

"You just shouldn't close off your mind to the possibility of... some truth in myths and legends," Ace elaborated with a knowing smile. The smile annoyed Kelly because she was unable to determine whether Ace was winding her up or legitimately had something to hide. Knowing Ace, it could equally be both.

"Always a good idea," chimed in the Doctor, contributing to their conversation for the first time in an hour.

"Even those scientifically impossible, such as Icarus flying too close to the sun?" Kelly quipped sarcastically.

"Ace," the Doctor prompted, "Clarke's Law..."

Like a dedicated star pupil, Ace took a deep breath and began to recite. "'Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.'"

"Precisely," agreed the Doctor and proceeded to pick up his walking pace. Just like a teacher would after showing his prized student off while on an excursion. And Ace looked pleased, **pleased**, to have received praise from him, as though she were eight years old.

It didn't sit right with Kelly. Is it routine for the Doctor to quiz Ace like a teacher and have her answer immediately? It made Kelly wonder if Ace would recite her four times tables or the first 30 elements from the periodic table or explain the lifecycle of a star if the Doctor prompted her to. Would she jump if he yelled, 'jump!'?

"Ah," he called from the top of the next hill. "Come see."

Kelly was disheartened by being left in the dust as Ace ran up after him. Yes, she decided. Yes she would.

Ace had failed to probe the answer out of her completely, but Kelly had indeed chosen this time and place for a reason and it was based on a myth. It just wasn't one she expected Ace to know. Unlike the adventures of King Arthur, it wasn't as well known, however it did have some significance to Kelly. It wasn't highly documented; in fact she suspected much of what she had discovered to be incorrect. Kelly did not believe in myths regarding mystical creatures that preyed upon unsuspecting mortals, but the myth was her only lead and it pointed to 12th Century Britain; more specifically an island off the coast known in the present as the Isle of Man.

It was here that the earliest reference to the Saint Trinian had been found.

According to her research sometime in the 12th Century a church changed its name from Saint Ninian's to St Trinian's, and Kelly had hit the roadblock of lack of information years ago. Kelly was meticulous. If there was something to be discovered and she was determined to find it, Kelly would do everything within her power to discover it, using whatever means and resources were available. Ace and her identity had been her biggest and most baffling puzzle to solve but that was due to information conflicting with what she believed to be plausible. In this case, it was the lack of information that posed a barrier.

She was unsure if this church had anything to do with her school. She could find no link, not even a reference to a saint sharing the name. Unable to find any more leads, she had been forced to give up her search but seeing as this was her one and only chance to make use of a time machine, why not investigate? It wasn't only to know about the origins of the anarchic school for sentimental reasons. Having spent time digging, Kelly sought answers. Whoever this St Trinian was she covered her tracks well. It only strengthened Kelly's conviction that there was something worth knowing about the figure.

The Doctor had been a bit surprised by her choice, it being so precise a location and time period. She had issued it as a challenge, for surely he could manage something as simple as following directions couldn't he? He had raised an eyebrow before muttering and moving about the central structure adjusting dials and turning knobs but otherwise made no complaints. Guess he thinks I'm here to see the castles, she thought, or that I have roots here. Let him think that. By choosing a time and place she had a better idea of what to expect of this time period and place based on her research. It gave her some comfort in plunging into Ace's world.

She had a growing awareness that her research was not as thorough as she had thought. The landscape looked right but she had pictured the layout differently in her mind. The castle was where it ought to be but the surrounding countryside of fields, paddocks and forest felt off as a wide river she had never read about ran a few metres from the roadside. It ran almost parallel. That couldn't be natural yet there were no signs of human intervention. The river vanished as she climbed the hill and at the top, the Doctor used his umbrella to point at the castle.

It was breathtakingly impressive, not depressingly shamed like its ruins would become in the future. Unlike most structures Kelly had grown accustomed to in the 21st Century, the castle was not built symmetrically. The irregularity of its shape caused by the numerous additions and expansions over the years made the castle seem alive as it adapted to serve the people's needs and followed the natural contours of the land upon which it stood. It did not stick out like a sore thumb as a skyscraper did but stood with pride. It belonged on that horizon and would stare down anyone who dared object.

It was not just an impressive sight. It was also quite intimidating. Its sheer size and defensive design were not to be scoffed at. From memory, Kelly knew that sections of the castle walls bordered cliffs to provide an addition barrier to attacks from the sea. Its formidable walls appeared impervious and they were only the first line of defence. They were supplemented by two rings of watchtowers; half joined to the walls and towered above them, the other half standing within the castle grounds and surrounded the keep. Both types were equally tall, allowing defenders a clear view of the walls and accompanying towers and a clear shot at any standing on them if they were taken. She could not see them from here, but Kelly identified the castle guards that were doubtlessly patrolling the walls as the third line of defence.

After taking in the beauty of a well-planned defensive structure, Kelly's gaze was drawn to the gatehouse and the castle's surroundings which were swarming with carts, horses and people.

"I believe we have arrived during a festival," stated the Doctor. "That is Peel Castle, believed to be where the Arthurian legends took place."

"That's Camelot?" Ace asked, surveying the castle again with a more critical eye.

"I thought you said those legends weren't true," commented Kelly as she nudged Ace.

"I didn't say that," returned Ace cheekily. "I said not all of them are true."

Kelly rolled her eyes. "So there being a Camelot is true but the Lady of the Lake is just fiction."

"Oh, no, she's very much real," replied the Doctor offhandedly. "The premise behind her that is; rising up from the depths of a lake and bestowing magical swords upon unsuspecting Arthurians. Not the most effective means of governing however..."

Again with that grin, thought Kelly irritably as she watched Ace's face light up. What aren't you telling me? Their little inside jokes were starting to get annoying.

The Doctor took a quick breath and changed the subject. "The Middle Ages is a distinctly hierarchical society with different ways of greeting people depending on both your and their social status," he lectured. "As you are both passing for squires, might I suggest that Kelly's adopts another name during our stay?"

While Kelly understood the reasoning behind it; training as a squire to become a knight was a solely male occupation; she did not appreciate being the only one whose name was up for contention. It had to be another dig at her, another move in their match.

"What about 'Kevin?" Ace suggested. "'Kyle', 'Kieran', 'Kay'?"

She reluctantly consented to the later suggestion before Ace could come up with any more ideas. The longer Ace had to think, the more outrageous her suggestions would become. Sooner or later she would think 'Kassablanka' was the most acceptable choice.

Still, the Doctor singling her out to enforce a name change made her twitch uneasily. You win this point, she thought stubbornly, but there will be others.

They reached the castle and had no trouble walking right in amongst the carts and peasants. The town within was alive with people, food, animals and goods. Fruit, vegetables, pottery, livestock, trinkets, weapons and ale as far as the eye could see. Kelly smiled as Ace, as seasoned a travelled as she claimed to be, openly gawked at her surroundings and the bright colours, strange smells and noise everywhere. The town was a sight but Kelly hid her fascination behind a façade of indifference although even she could not help but stare open mouthed at some of the merchandise up for sale. The Doctor pulled them aside for a moment and passed them a bag of coins each and pointed out a building where they were to meet up with him after sundown.

"Stick together, avoid getting into fights and," he lowered his voice to stress the importance of his last suggestion, "don't drink the beer."

Kelly had no intention of doing so. Ace looked disappointed so Kelly made a mental note to explain how alcohol was made in this time if necessary. Encountering men with swords full of alcohol and testosterone was certainly not on her to-do list.

It was then that it occurred to Kelly that they had forgotten a key accessory to their disguises. What was a squire without a weapon? Kelly predicted the answer would be a mugged one. Coaxing Ace over to a blacksmith's stand was not difficult. Ace eyed some of the more elaborate goods but Kelly steered her towards more practical weapons before selecting a dagger for herself, about 30 centimetres in length from hilt to tip, plain and nothing special to look at. As she held it in her hand, she examined it from two perspectives, a practical one and a historic one. This simple blade could become a highly valued antique someday. After use it would be lost or buried and, assuming it survived, could potentially be discovered a few hundred or even a thousand years later by a treasure hunter or meticulous archaeologist.

A little souvenir for the trip home, she thought with a smile as she strapped it to her waist. Its worth in the Middle Ages might be a few gold coins but in good condition it could be a handsome sum in the present day. Kelly hoped she would not have to wield it; it could get damaged and decrease exponentially in value; but decided to add a few more coins to the blacksmith's purse in exchange for an even smaller knife which she slipped into her left boot.

She had been thinking of bandits while out on the road but now she was within the castle walls thieves and pickpockets were more likely. Her stomach swirled in a mixture of nervousness and excitement. How easy it must be in this day and age to be a practicing liberator of goods. No cameras, no electronic locks or alarm systems, no electricity in general. A thief would have to rely on their senses and peers for guidance and their skills to execute their deeds and escape into the night. These people were not the typical medieval numbskull. They were pioneers in their art. While not every thief was of the same ability, collectively the thieves of this time were masters, outwitting guards, stumping shopkeepers and making a tidy profit. But not all, she added as an afterthought as she and Ace passed a few beggars on the street corners. Many would be forced to live on their spoils alone. Their lives would depend on their skills to survive. They danced on the edge, literally and metaphorically, between life and death. One moment's lapse could be their undoing. The price they could pay for being caught could cost them their fingers or their life.

Still, at the moment the thieves were several steps ahead of the law. It would be a few hundred years before they had to worry about being identified after the act. Now they only had to run and stay hidden if observed and there was little danger in being seen if you could disappear. Lay low for a bit and your face would be forgotten then you could try again. As valuable as pilfered jewels were, Kelly was rather keen on keeping her head attached to her shoulders. She had no intention of practicing her thieving arts here. It was far too risky.

As she and Ace explored the market stalls, Kelly lost count of the number of thieves she laid eyes on. She knew the tricks of the trade but was still dumbfounded by how visibly they pulled their stunts when surrounded by witnesses. Brave, reckless or stupid, she couldn't decide which. Most were common pickpockets, stealing whenever the opportunity presented itself. Only a few actively stalked their targets; Kelly ensured her newly bought dagger was visible to deter the thieves from selecting her. Ace was the ideal target however, clearly displaying the traits of 'the tourist'; wide eyes, not watching her surroundings, standing close to others in the crowds, picking up and examining objects, constantly moving. Kelly's only comfort was that the majority of the people around them were the same.

The expectations were the guards, shopkeepers and the knights. There were a surprising number of the later around actually. At least a dozen of them had barged their way through the crowd followed by their entourages. Anyone who got in their path got shoved and a few knights went out of their way to shove those who so much as looked at them. Some Camelot this is, thought Kelly. No knights in shining armour here that don't need to be pushed onto their backsides.

"Do you think there's a tournament or something happening?" Kelly asked Ace who glanced up from a stand that was selling bread.

Ace grinned in delight. "I sure hope so. We should sign up. You and me, we'd take 'em all on."

Kelly abolished the idea. "We most certainly will not. Do you have any idea how dangerous these tournaments are or have any idea how many people died competing or lost limbs or crackled skulls?!"

Ace laughed. "I was joking, Kit, and you know it."

I was hoping that was a joke, thought Kelly, but sometimes you get the strangest and most horrifying ideas into your head and go about making them happen.

"You take everything so seriously. I want to find this tournament. Maybe there'll even be jousting." Ace looked delighted at the idea. "Should have enough time to watch a few bouts before the lanterns are lit. That's when the Professor said to be back."

"And you must do exactly as the Professor says," Kelly mumbled acidly. You dare not disobey or you might get a detention. Urgh, it's nauseating. When did you get so boring? The Ace I knew would have dashed right into the thick of things and needed to be pulled out by the ear, not err on the side of caution and ensure she was where she had been told to be on time. It was a sharp contrast from the reckless behaviour Kelly was accustomed to. Kelly yawned to express how much she cared about being back on time.

"I know, curfew, ick," Ace pulled a face, "but I got a good look at where I think he's made lodgings and it'll be a piece of cake getting back out again for a bit of exploring."

"Now that's the Ace I remember." Kelly grinned from ear to ear. "We do have an entire castle to explore after all. Fine, we'll be back like your parental says but you better be right."

Ace rolled her eyes. "He's not always this protective."

Protective wasn't the word Kelly would use. 'Overpowering' or 'demanding' might be. 'Overly restrictive over every aspect of Ace's life', most definitely. "No? It's recent then?" she asked.

"Kinda. We've just been through a bit of a rough patch lately." Ace did not elaborate. The glassy look that appeared in her eyes was enough to tell that things were indeed a bit strained between them as Kelly had spotted earlier. Kelly longed to dig straight to the heart of it but whatever it was, it was an emotionally charged issue. That turned a delicate subject into a potential minefield.

She chose a circuitous path to her objective. "It wouldn't have anything to do with how you're obviously rebelling against him."

Ace became a deer in the headlights. "What? How'd you-"

"Ace," Kelly chided. "Having come from a boarding school of rebellious teenage girls, I know a thing or two about rebellion." And, she added to herself, how to do so more effectively than simply playing along and hoping things work out in your favour.

Ace muttered about it being complicated.

Kelly sighed. "You know I hate it when you say that. I managed to keep up with all the complexity last time. Try me," she urged.

Three hours later Kelly sat at a table at the inn the Doctor had selected and was mulling over their conversation as she mopped up watery soup with a bit of bread. She barely registered the taste or the texture of the stale bread although Ace had made her complaints known earlier, having described it as "slop". It was regretful that Ace's explanation turned vent had been forced to end somewhat prematurely due to having to rush back to the inn when the lit multi-coloured lanterns caught their attention but Kelly was glad for the time to think.

She had told Ace that it wasn't the strangest case she'd heard. That had been a lie. It was a lot to process and Kelly wasn't sure if she or Ace even would ever understand it fully. Hearing about this alien being, this Fenric, and his manipulations throughout time, then this mess with the Doctor testing her and trying to ship her off somewhere she didn't want... Ok, so Ace had been right. It was complicated. It was too big for Kelly to really picture. Breaking it down into simpler terms, the Doctor had known something was playing games with Ace and had used that to his own advantage. Despite Ace's protests that she understood why now and had gotten over it, the damage clearly lingered. Having her trust severed like that had left scars that Ace either was not aware of or refused to acknowledge.

Bizarrely, Ace claimed that it had all happened before she showed up at St Trinian's which confused Kelly to no end. After effectively having her trust shattered and shoved into her face, she was dropped off at a boarding school while the Doctor went off alone. Then, she went running back to him the moment he returned. Why? Why had she gone back? Sure, he had apologised and Ace said she believed it was genuine but she had gone back and had continued to travel with him as though nothing had happened. Upon hearing that, Kelly had to resist the urge to shake sense into her gullible friend. You can't just act like nothing happened, not when there's a great big chasm of the breach of trust separating the two of you.

They evidently hadn't talked about it judging by the events that followed. The whole situation Ace had described was impossible to empathise with. It was far too alien. She knew nothing about the life the pair lead or what it entailed. What did she know of timelines and the preservation of history? What did she know of the whole 'saving-the-world' business Ace dealt with on a day to day basis? What she did know however was the damage betrayal could cause. That she could sympathise with. It reminded her of the dangers of trusting others and the reasons why she worked alone. It was too easy to fall into the trap of depending on people and end up being used. Ace had learnt about the pain of manipulation the hard way. Not just once, twice. By the same person.

Ace was older and more hardened than she had been when they first met, yet she carried the same baggage she'd brought with her to St Trinian's; doubt, unease and hurt by fractured trust. It was as if the damage had not healed. She bore the same scars.

It made it easier to dislike this Doctor. Like she needed any more encouragement. He'd hurt Ace. Again.

Kelly found herself in the dilemma of how to approach the issue. Ace had gone upstairs a half an hour ago. Kelly doubted she had gone to sleep. What am I supposed to tell her, she wondered. That she should have seen it coming, having endured it once already? Hell, she chosen to go back to him, knowing how he'd hurt her. Saving the world and travelling the Universe might be what she is meant for but she shouldn't have to put up with this. If she thinks what she's been doing is rebellious enough to prove a point, then she's not going anywhere. She must see that. Something has to change.

It only strengthened her resolve to continue to distrust her friend's travelling partner and challenge his every move and instruction.

Expecting to be ambushed by Ace upstairs, she made her way to her room without so much as a nod to the Doctor who was brooding by the fire. She wasn't surprised that Ace had made claim to the bed in their shared room but had suspected as much. The floor will probably be more comfortable anyway, she concluded, so long as there were no rats or creepy crawlies.

Given their earlier conversation she was surprised to see Ace was beaming. She stood by the opening in the wall that served as a window and gestured for Kelly to come and take a look. Quietly grateful for one of Ace's extreme mood swings, Kelly glanced out the window and looked straight down. She retreated quickly. "That reeks!"

Ace nodded. "No prizes for working out what usually goes out the window." Kelly crinkled her nose and Ace laughed. "Getting a bit too real for you now?"

Kelly tried not to look as unsettled as her stomach was. "12th century faeces are more poignant than I expected."

Ace shifted from one foot to another awkwardly. "Well, seeing as you mentioned it, I should probably point out the erm, pot over there." She gestured vaguely at a clay pot near the bed.

It took a few seconds for Kelly to compute what Ace's body language was trying to convey but she felt heat rise to her face when she did. Oh shit, thought Kelly as her cheeks burnt. I really should have thought about plumbing before picking our destination.

Even in the low light, Ace noticed her change in colour and thought it was hilarious. "Bwahahaha! Your face! Priceless!"

If Kelly's stare could kill, Ace would have stopped breathing in a nanosecond.

"You really thought we'd..." She stifled another roar of laughter. "That we'd have to... Bwahahaha!"

Kelly's vision blurred. She absently raised a hand and wiped a tear of mortification from her eye. I can't believe that for a few moments there I thought she was being serious when I know what a prankster she is! She continued to glare at Ace's eyes. Had she not been so determined to avoid using the chamber pot or latrine at all during their stay in the Middle Ages, she would have throttled Ace then and there. Alternatively, the contents of the chamber pot would have been emptied over her head. "I won't forget this," she assured her hysterical friend. "I will get you, Ace McShane, and you will sorely regret doing this."

Tears of laughter streamed down Ace's face. "What happened to McKenzie?" she asked, wiping her face.

Kelly's stern expression mask wavered. You're not her anymore, she thought. McKenzie disappeared when you did. She hasn't come back.

Ace promptly forgot she had asked a question when she revealed a small container of tiny red and green pills.

"And where have you been carrying those?" Kelly smirked, hastening to recover from the unexpected question.

Ace reddened slightly. "Oh, shut up."

Kelly grinned.

"They're colour coded, red for stop, green for go," Ace explained, removing one red pill from the container. "One to one, not that hard to figure out except that I really wouldn't recommend taking two red or two green in a row. Reds 'cause it makes you feel like you've been kicked in the gut by a donkey, greens cause, well... You don't want to hit go twice," Ace assured her with a knowing look.

That sounded like a very interesting story to ask for another day. While the pills offered a solution, Kelly had her doubts about what some strange clearly futuristic medicine or chemicals would do to her digestive system. The way Ace described it made it seem as though the pills paused digestive processes altogether. Surely that couldn't be healthy. "And stop lasts how long exactly?"

Ace considered her answer. "You know when Josey was staking out the bathrooms for, like, a week?" She continued after Kelly nodded, "Yeah, about that long."

That definitely did not sound good for the digestive system. Kelly took the offered pill and stared at it, turning it over and trying to examine it using the candlelight. "What's in it exactly?"

"You really don't need to know," Ace replied firmly. Kelly raised an eyebrow but Ace refused to cave. "Honestly, I'd rather not know but the Professor insisted on telling me. Believe me; I'm doing you a favour."

Kelly stared at the pill whilst watching Ace take hers. You have already tried to prank me once today. I'm not falling for another one. Only once she was certain Ace had not deceived her did she drop the pill onto her tongue and swallow.

"So, same old sneaking-out-after-dark routine?" Ace joked.

Kelly peered out the window again and the smell that wafted up from the dark gave her second doubts. It really reeked. The only way down would be to climb down to the street, where the contents of chamber pots were waiting. Was it really worth trudging through that slop to have a look around after dark? There was a reason nobody was out at night; there was a curfew. If they weren't careful they might end up visiting ye olde castle dungeons as inmates. Rationally it wasn't a smart idea to venture out considering the risks. There wouldn't even be much to look at. Yet Ace was eager and had taken the initiative by moving towards the window to go first.

We'll just have to be careful, Kelly decided.

Ace had managed to get one leg out the window before a loud thud sounded from downstairs shortly followed by a cry of pain. Creases of grave concern appeared on Ace's forehead and she scrambled back inside. Without uttering a word, she threw open the door and rushed downstairs. Kelly followed, her left hand resting on the hilt of the dagger strapped to her belt.

The single source of light in the main room downstairs was the fireplace which sent flickering shadows across the room. Flashes of light filled the room whenever a figure moved away from the fire. Kelly lost Ace in the sea of darkness. She could not see what was happening but found herself being attacked and responded in kind. Unsure who was foe, she fended off the shadowy figures with her hands. She struck something thick and metallic at one point but didn't have time to process the pain as blows came at her from all sides as the people around her scuffled to hit whoever or whatever got in their way.

She retreated until her back touched the wall. The intruders or whoever these shadows were had some kind of armour protecting the bulk of their bodies. Her strikes were ineffective but she dared not draw her dagger. It was impossible to tell one figure apart from another. She might harm Ace or perhaps the Doctor. As much as she detested him she needed him to stay relatively healthy or else she'd be lugging him all the way back to that box.

If only we had lights, thought Kelly. I can't fight what I can barely see. Struck with an idea, she surged towards the open fire and grabbed a piece of firewood and held it out in front of her. The closest figures now had faces and had taken a few steps away the flaming torch, granting her some space. Now she could see, she blocked their fists more easily and sent a few sprawling with a few strikes and kicks of her own.

The only problem with her tactics was while she could see them they could also see her. Some of the figures continued to run blindly at her, throwing punches left, right and centre. One however was smarter and more fearsome. It was he who wore the most armour. There was no doubt in Kelly's mind who was the leader of the pack. He had kept away from her after she had acquired the makeshift torch. He was also armed, a large broadsword strapped to his waist. Their eyes met. Kelly shuddered. This man was a predator, not a brute like the others. With a sinister smile, he reached for his blade. Kelly's dagger practically flew into her left hand from its scabbard. It was a mere toothpick of a weapon in comparison.

Her blood chilled further when he laughed. "You would pit such a puny blade against mine? Fool."

Her cheeks reddened knowing he was right. "What kind of knight are you?" she growled, keeping the makeshift torch in her right hand between them. "Are you that weak you need to ambush opponents or are you a coward?" she goaded. "Can't you take a fair fight?"

His face turned beetroot. She was having second thoughts about provoking him but it was a bit late now. She tensed as he clenched the hilt of his sword tight. Instead of drawing it and attempting to run her through, he grabbed his left wrist with his right hand, tore off a gauntlet and threw it at her feet. She glanced at it for half a second before pulling her gaze up to keep a watchful eye on her opponent. He stared right back at her, his eyes ablaze. "We shall see if you are as pathetic as your blade," he declared, "in the ring."

A shiver ran down Kelly's spine as the other invaders noticed a gesture he made and withdrew to the door. The knight at last broke eye-contact with Kelly and marched out the door, the brutes stumbling after him.

From the shadow of a corner, the Doctor pushed past Ace. He joined Kelly by the doorway to watch the intruders as they jogged out of sight, his forehead severely creased in thought.

Ace wiped blood from the corner of her lip with the back of her hand as she limped towards them. "What just happened?" she asked.

The Doctor turned, a puzzled expression on his face, and regarded Kelly. His eyes scanned her from head to toe. Uncomfortable with his scrutiny, she sheathed the dagger and returned the firewood to the fire. The fire illuminated the growing bruises and cuts on her hands. Her knuckles had suffered most from where she had punched the knight's armour with full force. Otherwise she had sustained only a few glancing blows. Judging by Ace's limp, she had endured several blows.

"I believe I made an error of judgement," Kelly heard the Doctor begin.

"That's never a good sign..." muttered Ace.

"We may have been better off without contemporary clothes," he continued. "Because," he hastened to add before Ace could retort with an 'I-told-you-so', "in some regions, green is reserved for the knight class."

Kelly frowned. That did not ring any bells. Still, she felt both the Doctor's and Ace's eyes on her and glanced down at her tunic. Her stomach dropped. Dark green.

Ace voiced Kelly's thoughts. "They think she is a knight?"

"They think she is a he and that he is a knight, yes," the Doctor corrected.

Just because I'm wearing green? Kelly shook her head. No, that isn't plausible. "My disguise isn't exactly convincing-"

"It is dark," the Doctor interjected loudly over the top of her. "You're tall, dressed in male clothing and, in your anger, adopted a deep voice." The description was almost mesmerising in how it flowed off his tongue. "Most members of the lower classes barely reach Ace's height because they stop growing before age sixteen." He paused and met her eyes. "You should consider yourself lucky he didn't decide to duel you here and now."

Kelly glanced at the floor and caught sight of the gauntlet. That's why he threw it, she realised. He was issuing me a challenge. She bit her tongue. It's not my fault! It's not like I wanted this to happen. I sure as hell didn't! Again she regretted her decision to accept the Doctor's dare. I sure didn't sign up for duels with crazy swordsmen. What was I thinking, endangering my life just to thwart him? My stupid pride, I should never have agreed. I should have gone straight back to where and when I belong.

The Doctor turned to face Ace, keeping his gaze trained on Kelly. "Get your things. We're going home."

For once, Kelly found herself in agreement with him.

"What do you mean no?" demanded the Doctor.

The guards stationed at the gate refused to be intimidated by the stranger dressed in funny clothes. "Gates shut. Nobody in, nobody out. Tournament."

"What on earth for?" he pressed. "We have urgent business outside and need to have been gone an hour ago."

One of the guards shrugged and gave the Doctor a shove which barrelled him into Kelly before marching down the street.

It was just breaking dawn and the first loaves of the day were toasting over an open fire. Kelly stifled a yawn and arched her back. Ace was perched on a fence post but was annoyingly chipper. "Nice guard that one. Nicer than some we've met, eh Professor?"

Unlike Ace, the Doctor was fuming. "The tournament's today? Even worse than I'd thought."

Ace swung her feet. "I know we should be getting back to the TARDIS but like Mr McGrumpy said, the gates shut. There's not much we can do so maybe we should come back later."

While Ace was right that standing around wasting time wasn't doing any good, where were they supposed to go? They couldn't go back to the inn as that would the first place the knight would go looking. Failing that, he would soon check other inns so they were also not an option. Kelly wasn't keen on doing too much wandering around. What if they were to bump into that knight again? They didn't have much alternative though.

She had a sneaky suspicion that the knight would be staking out the streets around the castle courtyard where the tournament was being held. It was most probable. If she had been in his position it was exactly what she would have done. Being unable to leave was a bit too convenient for her liking. It smelt of a trap, a trap that had being sprung around her that was now too late to slip out of.

"There must be another gate..." the Doctor mused.

"If there is, I'm sure it's the same," Kelly replied. "Unavailable."

"Nothing ventured..." he declared and Kelly sighed as she and Ace followed, hoping to be proven wrong.

They followed the wall around rather than following the main paths. It was considerably dirtier along the outskirts of the town. Kelly avoided thinking about chamber pots and focused instead on the dwellings and people she saw emerge from them. Some were craftsmen; candle makers, woodcutters, weavers, the odd tailor; many of which were tanners or butchers. The ground was caked with animal blood and a nearby pig sniffed its way around its pen. Not many were beginning their work for the day. Most were headed for the courtyard. The children, grubby and wearing tatters for clothes, looked particularly excited. It must be the highlight of their year to watch people fight against each other, she thought. While she didn't appreciate blood-sports like the locals did, she concluded it was probably their equivalent of the Olympics. A tournament would bring people from the surrounding countryside to the castle, and was a chance for everyone to forget just how tough life really was. It was an excuse to celebrate.

If she wasn't in danger of being dragged into the ring, she might have enjoyed taking in the sights too.

As Kelly had predicted, the other gatehouse was closed. The Doctor glared at her like it was her fault. She glared back.

Whoever this knight is, he has connections, she conceded. Even though she was aware of the completeness of the trap that contained her, she was surprised at how calm she was. She wasn't sure how long the tournament would last but was confident she could come up with a way to stay away from the knight until it was over. The best idea she had thought of so far was to ditch the knight's getup and give up the disguise altogether. Buy a dress, get changed and dump the tunic. It wasn't complicated and made a lot of sense. The knight and his cronies would not be looking for a woman.

"Told you she was smart," Ace grinned when Kelly shared her idea.

The Doctor wasn't convinced it was that simple. He pointed out that most clothes were handmade and passed down through families. She would not be able to just walk in to a tailor, pick something out and purchase it. Kelly opened her mouth to argue but the Doctor silenced her with a comment about her being "taller than the average woman," and how that made it even less likely to find a suitable outfit in this time period. Any other day she might have taken that as a compliment. Here it was just being used to carve holes into plans she was forming.

She tried another idea, carefully selecting her words. Mentioning borrowed clothing still got a frown from the Doctor, who clearly disapproved of stealing on principle. It was somewhat amusing how skewed his morality was considering Ace served as his shadow. In addition to his disapproval, he doubted many citizens would have more than a single pair of clothes and the few who might reside within the keep. Any clothing stolen from there would attract undue attention and be noticed by the owner if sighted on the street. Kelly didn't bother mentioning the possibility of bribing someone into exchange clothes.

She was resigned to finding a hiding place to conceal herself and remaining there until the event was over when the Doctor surprised her by changing course, heading straight for the centre of town. Ace halted, glanced at Kelly who was looking similarly confused, and called after him.

"Professor, you said we shouldn't go that way."

"I've changed my mind. It's the only way to get there."

"Where?" Ace and Kelly asked in unison.

"Isn't it obvious?" he asked with a grin. "The castle!"

The same castle swarming with guards? Wonderful, thought Kelly. His intelligence knows no bounds.

"If we can convince the local lord that we need to get out-"

"He's probably the knight's liege," exclaimed Kelly. "It would explain how he is able to lock-down the entire castle at will. Going in there would be the same as walking straight into the ring."

The Doctor paused mid-step. "Oh," he managed with a frown.

"Oooh! I've got an idea!" declared Ace.

Desperate times called for desperate measures so Kelly turned and listened intensively.

Ace pointed at Kelly. "We get her arrested."

Kelly blinked. "You what?"

"Just listen," Ace insisted as Kelly crossed her arms. "She gets arrested and thrown in the dungeon. Safe and sound during the tournament and we bail her out after it's over. I know," continued Ace as the Doctor and Kelly remained silent, "it's not perfect but it's not the craziest plan ever."

It took a minute for Kelly to put her natural condemnation about imprisonment aside. Medieval prisons weren't quite the same as the ones she had a healthy respect for. It was far more feasible to break in and out of a medieval dungeon than a high security complex back home. Actually, Ace's idea didn't sound all that horrible. As far as plans went, it was not bad. She was seriously considering the idea and contemplating how she would sneak some make-shift lock picks into the cell so she could break out when the Doctor dismissed the idea with a wave of his hand.

"Ace, he trapped us inside the castle within an hour. He could bail her out himself in half that time."

"Actually," Kelly interrupted loudly, "I think it's a good idea. If I were to combine it with losing this tunic, it could work. The knight will never find who he challenged as they'll have vanished without a trace."

"You forget the fatal flaw of that plan," the Doctor criticised as Kelly frowned. "It's not just about hiding **you**. That knight has had ample opportunity to get a good look at Ace and I. Last night, this morning, now, anyone in the street could describe who they saw with you. If you somehow managed to disappear, he will come looking for us. Hiding one person we might manage but three? No. For the last time, it won't work."

'Somehow managed'? Hmmph. He doesn't have a clue how well I can 'manage' a disappearance. His constant negativity grated on her nerves. It was as though she was trying to knit together a plan and he kept pulling at the loose strands, causing the whole thing to unravel.

"Instead of wasting time dissecting every thread of the ideas we come up with," she challenged, "why don't you tell us what your big plan is?"

"Kit," Ace warned but the Doctor was quick to retort.

"Because I'm trying to scrape together an alternative that doesn't involve getting you killed!"

Well at least we have the same end goal here, thought Kelly irritably. You're just going about it in a pessimistic and over-analytical manner. Philosophise about it all day if you want. I'm not about to wait for you to come up with a solution that is acceptable to you, not when my life's on the line. Self-righteous git.

Ace spoke softly to try and ease the tension in the air. "You must have a plan," she said, referring to the Doctor. "Tell me?"

He tore his gaze from Kelly's face and met Ace's eyes. It seemed to calm him because he gave a sigh and replied quietly, "The only choice we have; to enter her in the tournament."


End file.
